diff --git a/formats.py b/formats.py
index 50d5b2a..0995dcd 100755
--- a/formats.py
+++ b/formats.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 import time
 import re
 import multiprocessing as mp
+import gzip
 
 # Internal
 from GAPI import log
@@ -851,7 +852,10 @@ def read(self, filePath):
         '''
         Read VCF file
         '''
-        vcfFile = open(filePath)
+        if str(filePath).endswith('.gz'):
+            vcfFile = gzip.open(filePath, 'rt')
+        else:
+            vcfFile = open(filePath)
 
         ## 1. Read VCF and differenciate between header and variant entries
         header = []