diff --git a/examples/keras/preprocess.py b/examples/keras/preprocess.py
index b10b693..1738ea8 100644
--- a/examples/keras/preprocess.py
+++ b/examples/keras/preprocess.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-from typing import Any
+import io
+from typing import Any, Union
 
 import numpy as np
 from PIL import Image, ImageOps
@@ -13,16 +14,22 @@ class Preprocess(object):
         # set internal state, this will be called only once. (i.e. not per request)
         pass
 
-    def preprocess(self, body: dict, state: dict, collect_custom_statistics_fn=None) -> Any:
+    def preprocess(self, body: Union[bytes, dict], state: dict, collect_custom_statistics_fn=None) -> Any:
         # we expect to get two valid on the dict x0, and x1
-        url = body.get("url")
-        if not url:
-            raise ValueError("'url' entry not provided, expected http/s link to image")
+        if isinstance(body, bytes):
+            # we expect to get a stream of encoded image bytes
+            try:
+                image = Image.open(io.BytesIO(body)).convert("RGB")
+            except Exception:
+                raise ValueError("Image could not be decoded")
 
-        local_file = StorageManager.get_local_copy(remote_url=url)
-        image = Image.open(local_file)
+        if isinstance(body, dict) and "url" in body.keys():
+            # image is given as url, and is fetched
+            url = body.get("url")
+            local_file = StorageManager.get_local_copy(remote_url=url)
+            image = Image.open(local_file)
+    
         image = ImageOps.grayscale(image).resize((28, 28))
-
         return np.array([np.array(image).flatten()])
 
     def postprocess(self, data: Any, state: dict, collect_custom_statistics_fn=None) -> dict:
diff --git a/examples/pytorch/preprocess.py b/examples/pytorch/preprocess.py
index 2fd1581..1738ea8 100644
--- a/examples/pytorch/preprocess.py
+++ b/examples/pytorch/preprocess.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-from typing import Any
+import io
+from typing import Any, Union
 
 import numpy as np
 from PIL import Image, ImageOps
@@ -13,16 +14,23 @@ class Preprocess(object):
         # set internal state, this will be called only once. (i.e. not per request)
         pass
 
-    def preprocess(self, body: dict, state: dict, collect_custom_statistics_fn=None) -> Any:
+    def preprocess(self, body: Union[bytes, dict], state: dict, collect_custom_statistics_fn=None) -> Any:
         # we expect to get two valid on the dict x0, and x1
-        url = body.get("url")
-        if not url:
-            raise ValueError("'url' entry not provided, expected http/s link to image")
+        if isinstance(body, bytes):
+            # we expect to get a stream of encoded image bytes
+            try:
+                image = Image.open(io.BytesIO(body)).convert("RGB")
+            except Exception:
+                raise ValueError("Image could not be decoded")
 
-        local_file = StorageManager.get_local_copy(remote_url=url)
-        image = Image.open(local_file)
+        if isinstance(body, dict) and "url" in body.keys():
+            # image is given as url, and is fetched
+            url = body.get("url")
+            local_file = StorageManager.get_local_copy(remote_url=url)
+            image = Image.open(local_file)
+    
         image = ImageOps.grayscale(image).resize((28, 28))
-        return np.array([np.array(image)])
+        return np.array([np.array(image).flatten()])
 
     def postprocess(self, data: Any, state: dict, collect_custom_statistics_fn=None) -> dict:
         # post process the data returned from the model inference engine