diff --git a/src/cljam/io/vcf.clj b/src/cljam/io/vcf.clj
index cb36f3a2..4ea6a325 100644
--- a/src/cljam/io/vcf.clj
+++ b/src/cljam/io/vcf.clj
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@
         header (with-open [r (cio/reader (util/compressor-input-stream f))]
                  (vcf-reader/load-header r))]
     (VCFReader. (util/as-url f) meta-info header
-
                 (if (bgzf/bgzip? f)
                   (bgzf/bgzf-input-stream f)
                   (cio/reader (util/compressor-input-stream f)))
diff --git a/src/cljam/io/vcf/reader.clj b/src/cljam/io/vcf/reader.clj
index c8d32a7e..16c88323 100644
--- a/src/cljam/io/vcf/reader.clj
+++ b/src/cljam/io/vcf/reader.clj
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
             [proton.core :refer [as-long]]
             [cljam.io.util.bin :as util-bin]
             [cljam.io.vcf.util :as vcf-util])
-  (:import [java.io Closeable]
+  (:import [java.io Closeable BufferedReader]
            [clojure.lang LazilyPersistentVector]
            bgzf4j.BGZFInputStream))
 
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@
          v)]))
 
 (defn load-meta-info
-  [^java.io.BufferedReader rdr]
+  [^BufferedReader rdr]
   (loop [line (.readLine rdr), meta-info {}]
     (if (meta-line? line)
       (let [[k v] (parse-meta-info-line line)]
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@
   (cstr/split (subs line 1) #"\t"))
 
 (defn load-header
-  [^java.io.BufferedReader rdr]
+  [^BufferedReader rdr]
   (loop [line (.readLine rdr)]
     (if (header-line? line)
       (parse-header-line line)
@@ -164,8 +164,10 @@
          (apply hash-map))))
 
 (defn- read-data-lines
-  [^java.io.BufferedReader rdr header kws]
-  (when-let [line (.readLine rdr)]
+  [rdr header kws]
+  (when-let [line (if (instance? BufferedReader rdr)
+                    (.readLine ^BufferedReader rdr)
+                    (.readLine ^BGZFInputStream rdr))]
     (if-not (or (meta-line? line) (header-line? line))
       (cons (parse-data-line line kws)
             (lazy-seq (read-data-lines rdr header kws)))
diff --git a/test/cljam/io/vcf_test.clj b/test/cljam/io/vcf_test.clj
index 3670556e..2cd89189 100644
--- a/test/cljam/io/vcf_test.clj
+++ b/test/cljam/io/vcf_test.clj
@@ -116,9 +116,11 @@
       (is (= (vcf/read-variants rdr) test-vcf-no-samples-variants-deep)))))
 
 (deftest read-variants-complex-test
-  (with-open [v (vcf/reader test-vcf-complex-file)
-              b (vcf/reader test-bcf-complex-file)]
+  (with-open [v (vcf/reader test-vcf-complex-file)    ;; uncompressed VCF
+              z (vcf/reader test-vcf-complex-gz-file) ;; bgzipped VCF
+              b (vcf/reader test-bcf-complex-file)]   ;; bgzipped BCF
     (is (= (vcf/read-variants v)
+           (vcf/read-variants z)
            (vcf/read-variants b)))))
 
 (deftest-remote bin-index-is-done-without-errors-with-a-large-file
@@ -286,6 +288,17 @@
     (testing "v4.3 complex"
       (let [temp-file (.getAbsolutePath (cio/file temp-dir "test_v4_3_complex.bcf"))]
         (with-open [v (vcf/reader test-vcf-complex-file)]
+          (let [xs (vcf/read-variants v)
+                m (vcf/meta-info v)
+                h (vcf/header v)]
+            (with-open [b (vcf/writer temp-file m h)]
+              (vcf/write-variants b xs))
+            (with-open [b (vcf/reader temp-file)]
+              (is (= xs (vcf/read-variants b))))))))
+    (testing "v4.3 complex bgzip"
+      (let [temp-file (.getAbsolutePath
+                       (cio/file temp-dir "test_v4_3_complex_bgzip.bcf"))]
+        (with-open [v (vcf/reader test-vcf-complex-gz-file)]
           (let [xs (vcf/read-variants v)
                 m (vcf/meta-info v)
                 h (vcf/header v)]