diff --git a/modules/io/pymod/wrap_io.cc b/modules/io/pymod/wrap_io.cc
index 6d16af3e91192a6b47c39a3f4d770e2be94cd260..302720245b63d534d88aceb2bba9c4d64bba0464 100644
--- a/modules/io/pymod/wrap_io.cc
+++ b/modules/io/pymod/wrap_io.cc
@@ -83,7 +83,8 @@ BOOST_PYTHON_MODULE(_ost_io)
   def("Instance",IOManager::Instance,
       return_value_policy<reference_existing_object>() );
 
-  def("LoadEntity",LoadEntity,load_entity_ov());
+  def("LoadEntity", LoadEntity,
+      load_entity_ov(args("filename", "format")));
   def("SaveEntity", &save_ent_view,
       save_entity_view_ov(args("entity", "filename", "format")));
   def("SaveEntity", &save_ent_handle,
diff --git a/modules/io/src/mol/load_entity.cc b/modules/io/src/mol/load_entity.cc
index 98eea40f861a728340b8ad97b79997800bbd6119..4ce5f94b7e7a2aad92bef022b44463881242641a 100644
--- a/modules/io/src/mol/load_entity.cc
+++ b/modules/io/src/mol/load_entity.cc
@@ -30,13 +30,13 @@ namespace ost { namespace io {
 
 namespace {
 
-void Import(mol::EntityHandle& eh, const String& filename, int flag)
+void Import(mol::EntityHandle& eh, const String& filename, const String& format)
 {
   Profile profile_import("import");
   LOG_DEBUG("creating EntityIOHandle for " << filename);
-  EntityIOHandlerP ent_io = IOManager::Instance().FindEntityImportHandler(filename);
+  EntityIOHandlerP ent_io = IOManager::Instance().FindEntityImportHandler(filename, format);
 
-  // TODO: proper error handling
+  // note: error handling done in FindEntityImportHandler
 
   LOG_DEBUG("calling import on entity io handle");
   ent_io->Import(eh,filename);
@@ -53,12 +53,12 @@ void Import(mol::EntityHandle& eh, const String& filename, int flag)
 
 } // anon ns
 
-mol::EntityHandle LoadEntity(const String& filename, int flag)
+mol::EntityHandle LoadEntity(const String& filename, const String& format)
 {
   LOG_DEBUG("creating emtpy entity");
   mol::EntityHandle eh=mol::CreateEntity();
   mol::XCSEditor xcs_lock=eh.EditXCS(mol::BUFFERED_EDIT);
-  Import(eh,filename,flag);
+  Import(eh, filename, format);
   return eh;
 }
 
diff --git a/modules/io/src/mol/load_entity.hh b/modules/io/src/mol/load_entity.hh
index 0a38c07afbfeaac506badf1445606a101d670a70..80ff0bb492923ed94de7db92b7766bccc37efa8c 100644
--- a/modules/io/src/mol/load_entity.hh
+++ b/modules/io/src/mol/load_entity.hh
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 namespace ost { namespace io {
 
 // load unmanaged entity
-DLLEXPORT_OST_IO mol::EntityHandle LoadEntity(const String& filename, int flag=0);
+DLLEXPORT_OST_IO mol::EntityHandle LoadEntity(const String& filename, const String& format="auto");
 
 }} // ns