diff --git a/toolkit/config_modules.py b/toolkit/config_modules.py
index b23b762a..b4ca167f 100644
--- a/toolkit/config_modules.py
+++ b/toolkit/config_modules.py
@@ -235,6 +235,7 @@ class DatasetConfig:
         self.flip_y: bool = kwargs.get('flip_y', False)
         self.augments: List[str] = kwargs.get('augments', [])
         self.control_path: str = kwargs.get('control_path', None)  # depth maps, etc
+        self.alpha_mask: bool = kwargs.get('alpha_mask', False)  # if true, will use alpha channel as mask
         self.mask_path: str = kwargs.get('mask_path', None)  # focus mask (black and white. White has higher loss than black)
         self.mask_min_value: float = kwargs.get('mask_min_value', 0.01)  # min value for . 0 - 1
         self.poi: Union[str, None] = kwargs.get('poi', None) # if one is set and in json data, will be used as auto crop scale point of interes
diff --git a/toolkit/dataloader_mixins.py b/toolkit/dataloader_mixins.py
index 6cbab537..3bd786c6 100644
--- a/toolkit/dataloader_mixins.py
+++ b/toolkit/dataloader_mixins.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import random
 from collections import OrderedDict
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, List, Dict, Union
 
+import numpy as np
 import torch
 from safetensors.torch import load_file, save_file
 from tqdm import tqdm
@@ -293,11 +294,21 @@ class ImageProcessingDTOMixin:
                 self.load_mask_image()
             return
         try:
-            img = Image.open(self.path).convert('RGB')
+            img = Image.open(self.mask_path)
             img = exif_transpose(img)
         except Exception as e:
             print(f"Error: {e}")
             print(f"Error loading image: {self.path}")
+
+        if self.use_alpha_as_mask:
+            # we do this to make sure it does not replace the alpha with another color
+            # we want the image just without the alpha channel
+            np_img = np.array(img)
+            # strip off alpha
+            np_img = np_img[:, :, :3]
+            img = Image.fromarray(np_img)
+
+        img = img.convert('RGB')
         w, h = img.size
         if w > h and self.scale_to_width < self.scale_to_height:
             # throw error, they should match
@@ -443,11 +454,16 @@ class MaskFileItemDTOMixin:
         self.has_mask_image = False
         self.mask_path: Union[str, None] = None
         self.mask_tensor: Union[torch.Tensor, None] = None
+        self.use_alpha_as_mask: bool = False
         dataset_config: 'DatasetConfig' = kwargs.get('dataset_config', None)
         self.mask_min_value = dataset_config.mask_min_value
-        if dataset_config.mask_path is not None:
+        if dataset_config.alpha_mask:
+            self.use_alpha_as_mask = True
+            self.mask_path = kwargs.get('path', None)
+            self.has_mask_image = True
+        elif dataset_config.mask_path is not None:
             # find the control image path
-            mask_path = dataset_config.mask_path
+            mask_path = dataset_config.mask_path if dataset_config.mask_path is not None else dataset_config.alpha_mask
             # we are using control images
             img_path = kwargs.get('path', None)
             img_ext_list = ['.jpg', '.jpeg', '.png', '.webp']
@@ -460,11 +476,21 @@ class MaskFileItemDTOMixin:
 
     def load_mask_image(self: 'FileItemDTO'):
         try:
-            img = Image.open(self.mask_path).convert('RGB')
+            img = Image.open(self.mask_path)
             img = exif_transpose(img)
         except Exception as e:
             print(f"Error: {e}")
             print(f"Error loading image: {self.mask_path}")
+
+        if self.use_alpha_as_mask:
+            # pipeline expectws an rgb image so we need to put alpha in all channels
+            np_img = np.array(img)
+            np_img[:, :, :3] = np_img[:, :, 3:]
+
+            np_img = np_img[:, :, :3]
+            img = Image.fromarray(np_img)
+
+        img = img.convert('RGB')
         w, h = img.size
         if w > h and self.scale_to_width < self.scale_to_height:
             # throw error, they should match