diff --git a/bin/init_model.py b/bin/init_model.py
index c29a10107..5f06086df 100644
--- a/bin/init_model.py
+++ b/bin/init_model.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
 from ast import literal_eval
 import math
+import gzip
 
 import plac
 from pathlib import Path
@@ -78,7 +79,7 @@ def _read_clusters(loc):
 
 def _read_probs(loc):
     if not loc.exists():
-        print("Warning: Probabilities file not found")
+        print("Probabilities file not found. Trying freqs.")
         return {}, 0.0
     probs = {}
     for i, line in enumerate(codecs.open(str(loc), 'r', 'utf8')):
@@ -94,7 +95,11 @@ def _read_freqs(loc, max_length=100, min_doc_freq=5, min_freq=100):
         return {}, 0.0
     counts = PreshCounter()
     total = 0
-    for i, line in enumerate(loc.open()):
+    if str(loc).endswith('gz'):
+        file_ = gzip.open(str(loc))
+    else:
+        file_ = loc.open()
+    for i, line in enumerate(file_):
         freq, doc_freq, key = line.split('\t', 2)
         freq = int(freq)
         counts.inc(i+1, freq)