diff --git a/convert-to-trec.py b/convert-to-trec.py
index ddc0a16..5ee88e3 100644
--- a/convert-to-trec.py
+++ b/convert-to-trec.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import json
 from pprint import pprint
 import sys, getopt
+from gzip import GzipFile
 
 
 def usage():
@@ -8,6 +9,20 @@ def usage():
                "                    inputfile: the original JSONL file of the dataset\n\n"+
                "Copyright (c) 2015 by Singal Media Ltd.")
 
+def openfile(filepath, mode=None):
+    """wrapper for reading or writing to .gz file transparently
+    """
+    if filepath.endswith('.gz'):
+        if mode:
+            return GzipFile(filepath, mode)
+        else:
+            return  GzipFile(filepath)
+    else:
+        if mode:
+            return open(filepath, mode)
+        else:
+            return open(filepath)
+
 def main(argv):
    inputfile = ''
    outputfile = ''
@@ -30,8 +45,8 @@ def main(argv):
    if not outputfile:
            usage()
            sys.exit()
-   outfile = open(outputfile, 'w+')
-   with open(inputfile) as f:
+   outfile = openfile(outputfile, 'w+')
+   with openfile(inputfile) as f:
 	for line in f:
 		news_article=json.loads(line)
                 #pprint(news_article)