diff --git a/mmedit/datasets/pipelines/matting_aug.py b/mmedit/datasets/pipelines/matting_aug.py
index eb8f29b79f..8d83aaeaf9 100644
--- a/mmedit/datasets/pipelines/matting_aug.py
+++ b/mmedit/datasets/pipelines/matting_aug.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 import cv2
 import mmcv
 import numpy as np
+from mmcv.fileio import FileClient
 
 from ..registry import PIPELINES
 from .utils import adjust_gamma, random_choose_unknown
@@ -218,7 +219,12 @@ class CompositeFg:
             the randomly loaded images.
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, fg_dirs, alpha_dirs, interpolation='nearest'):
+    def __init__(self,
+                 fg_dirs,
+                 alpha_dirs,
+                 interpolation='nearest',
+                 io_backend='disk',
+                 **kwargs):
         self.fg_dirs = fg_dirs if isinstance(fg_dirs, list) else [fg_dirs]
         self.alpha_dirs = alpha_dirs if isinstance(alpha_dirs,
                                                    list) else [alpha_dirs]
@@ -226,6 +232,9 @@ def __init__(self, fg_dirs, alpha_dirs, interpolation='nearest'):
 
         self.fg_list, self.alpha_list = self._get_file_list(
             self.fg_dirs, self.alpha_dirs)
+        self.io_backend = io_backend
+        self.file_client = None
+        self.kwargs = kwargs
 
     def __call__(self, results):
         """Call function.
@@ -237,6 +246,8 @@ def __call__(self, results):
         Returns:
             dict: A dict containing the processed data and information.
         """
+        if self.file_client is None:
+            self.file_client = FileClient(self.io_backend, **self.kwargs)
         fg = results['fg']
         alpha = results['alpha'].astype(np.float32) / 255.
         h, w = results['fg'].shape[:2]
@@ -244,8 +255,10 @@ def __call__(self, results):
         # randomly select fg
         if np.random.rand() < 0.5:
             idx = np.random.randint(len(self.fg_list))
-            fg2 = mmcv.imread(self.fg_list[idx])
-            alpha2 = mmcv.imread(self.alpha_list[idx], 'grayscale')
+            fg2_bytes = self.file_client.get(self.fg_list[idx])
+            fg2 = mmcv.imfrombytes(fg2_bytes)
+            alpha2_bytes = self.file_client.get(self.alpha_list[idx])
+            alpha2 = mmcv.imfrombytes(alpha2_bytes, flag='grayscale')
             alpha2 = alpha2.astype(np.float32) / 255.
 
             fg2 = mmcv.imresize(fg2, (w, h), interpolation=self.interpolation)