diff --git a/modules/imgcodecs/include/opencv2/imgcodecs.hpp b/modules/imgcodecs/include/opencv2/imgcodecs.hpp
index c01d8568e49e..acc465593e73 100644
--- a/modules/imgcodecs/include/opencv2/imgcodecs.hpp
+++ b/modules/imgcodecs/include/opencv2/imgcodecs.hpp
@@ -227,6 +227,17 @@ Currently, the following file formats are supported:
 */
 CV_EXPORTS_W Mat imread( const String& filename, int flags = IMREAD_COLOR );
 
+/** @brief Loads an image from a file.
+
+This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It differs from the above function only in what argument(s) it accepts and the return value.
+@param filename Name of file to be loaded.
+@param dst object in which the image will be loaded.
+@param flags Flag that can take values of cv::ImreadModes
+@note
+The image passing through the img parameter can be pre-allocated. The memory is reused if the shape and the type match with the load image.
+ */
+CV_EXPORTS_W void imread( const String& filename, OutputArray dst, int flags = IMREAD_COLOR );
+
 /** @brief Loads a multi-page image from a file.
 
 The function imreadmulti loads a multi-page image from the specified file into a vector of Mat objects.
diff --git a/modules/imgcodecs/src/loadsave.cpp b/modules/imgcodecs/src/loadsave.cpp
index bc28efe49b3b..2586fc1fa4b1 100644
--- a/modules/imgcodecs/src/loadsave.cpp
+++ b/modules/imgcodecs/src/loadsave.cpp
@@ -457,7 +457,16 @@ imread_( const String& filename, int flags, Mat& mat )
             type = CV_MAKETYPE(CV_MAT_DEPTH(type), 1);
     }
 
-    mat.create( size.height, size.width, type );
+    if (mat.empty())
+    {
+        mat.create( size.height, size.width, type );
+    }
+    else
+    {
+        CV_CheckEQ(size, mat.size(), "");
+        CV_CheckTypeEQ(type, mat.type(), "");
+        CV_Assert(mat.isContinuous());
+    }
 
     // read the image data
     bool success = false;
@@ -632,6 +641,16 @@ Mat imread( const String& filename, int flags )
     return img;
 }
 
+void imread( const String& filename, OutputArray dst, int flags )
+{
+    CV_TRACE_FUNCTION();
+
+    Mat img = dst.getMat();
+
+    /// load the data
+    imread_(filename, flags, img);
+}
+
 /**
 * Read a multi-page image
 *
diff --git a/modules/imgcodecs/test/test_png.cpp b/modules/imgcodecs/test/test_png.cpp
index cdc7da39b282..655c59430d4b 100644
--- a/modules/imgcodecs/test/test_png.cpp
+++ b/modules/imgcodecs/test/test_png.cpp
@@ -7,6 +7,19 @@ namespace opencv_test { namespace {
 
 #if defined(HAVE_PNG) || defined(HAVE_SPNG)
 
+TEST(Imgcodecs_Png, imread_passing_mat)
+{
+    const string root = cvtest::TS::ptr()->get_data_path();
+    const string imgName = root + "../cv/shared/lena.png";
+
+    Mat ref = imread(imgName);
+    Mat img(ref.size(), ref.type());
+    void* ptr = img.data;
+    imread(imgName, img);
+    EXPECT_EQ(cv::norm(ref, img, NORM_INF), 0);
+    EXPECT_EQ(img.data, ptr);
+}
+
 TEST(Imgcodecs_Png, write_big)
 {
     const string root = cvtest::TS::ptr()->get_data_path();
diff --git a/modules/python/test/test_imread.py b/modules/python/test/test_imread.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b5f286d42696
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/python/test/test_imread.py
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+'''
+Test for imread
+'''
+
+# Python 2/3 compatibility
+from __future__ import print_function
+
+import cv2 as cv
+import numpy as np
+import sys
+
+from tests_common import NewOpenCVTests
+
+class imread_test(NewOpenCVTests):
+    def test_imread_to_buffer(self):
+        path = self.extraTestDataPath + '/cv/shared/lena.png'
+        ref = cv.imread(path)
+
+        img = np.zeros_like(ref)
+        cv.imread(path, img)
+        self.assertEqual(cv.norm(ref, img, cv.NORM_INF), 0.0)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    NewOpenCVTests.bootstrap()
diff --git a/modules/python/test/test_pathlike.py b/modules/python/test/test_pathlike.py
index d654ce24adad..9122a757ceea 100644
--- a/modules/python/test/test_pathlike.py
+++ b/modules/python/test/test_pathlike.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ def test_pathlib_path(self):
     def test_type_mismatch(self):
         import_path() # checks python version
 
-        with self.assertRaises(TypeError) as context:
+        with self.assertRaises(cv.error) as context:
             cv.imread(123)
 
         self.assertTrue('str or path-like' in str(context.exception))