diff --git a/docs/configobj.rst b/docs/configobj.rst
index 4456ab4..9fd6bde 100644
--- a/docs/configobj.rst
+++ b/docs/configobj.rst
@@ -281,9 +281,10 @@ ConfigObj takes the following arguments (with the default values shown) :
     * Nothing. In which case the ``filename`` attribute of your ConfigObj will be
       ``None``. You can set a filename at any time.
 
-    * A filename. What happens if the file doesn't already exist is determined by
-      the options ``file_error`` and ``create_empty``. The filename will be
-      preserved as the ``filename`` attribute. This can be changed at any time.
+    * A filename or pathlib.Path object. What happens if the file doesn't already
+      exist is determined by the options ``file_error`` and ``create_empty``. The
+      filename will be preserved as the ``filename`` attribute. This can be
+      changed at any time.
 
     * A list of lines. Any trailing newlines will be removed from the lines. The
       ``filename`` attribute of your ConfigObj will be ``None``.
diff --git a/src/configobj/__init__.py b/src/configobj/__init__.py
index 0d76ffc..0ae986a 100644
--- a/src/configobj/__init__.py
+++ b/src/configobj/__init__.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 import sys
 
 from codecs import BOM_UTF8, BOM_UTF16, BOM_UTF16_BE, BOM_UTF16_LE
+from pathlib import Path
 
 from ._version import __version__
 
@@ -1241,7 +1242,20 @@ def _load(self, infile, configspec):
                     with open(infile, 'w') as h:
                         h.write('')
                 content = []
-                
+
+        elif isinstance(infile, Path):
+            self.filename = str(infile)
+            if infile.is_file():
+                with infile.open('rb') as h:
+                    content = h.readlines() or []
+            elif self.file_error:
+                raise IOError('Config file not found: "%s".' % self.filename)
+            else:
+                if self.create_empty:
+                    with infile.open('w') as h:
+                        h.write('')
+                content = []
+
         elif isinstance(infile, (list, tuple)):
             content = list(infile)
             
@@ -1275,7 +1289,7 @@ def set_section(in_section, this_section):
             # needs splitting into lines - but needs doing *after* decoding
             # in case it's not an 8 bit encoding
         else:
-            raise TypeError('infile must be a filename, file like object, or list of lines.')
+            raise TypeError('infile must be a filename, file like object, pathlib.Path or list of lines.')
 
         if content:
             # don't do it for the empty ConfigObj
diff --git a/src/tests/test_configobj.py b/src/tests/test_configobj.py
index eeb0a1c..37ddbf0 100644
--- a/src/tests/test_configobj.py
+++ b/src/tests/test_configobj.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 import re
 
 from codecs import BOM_UTF8
+from pathlib import Path
 from warnings import catch_warnings
 from tempfile import NamedTemporaryFile
 
@@ -1104,6 +1105,24 @@ def test_creating_with_a_dictionary():
     assert dictionary_cfg_content == cfg.dict()
     assert dictionary_cfg_content is not cfg.dict()
 
+def test_reading_a_pathlib_path(cfg_contents):
+    cfg = cfg_contents("""
+[section]
+foo = bar""")
+    c = ConfigObj(Path(cfg))
+    assert 'foo' in c['section']
+
+def test_creating_a_file_from_pathlib_path(tmp_path):
+    infile = tmp_path / 'config.ini'
+    assert not Path(tmp_path / 'config.ini').is_file()
+    c = ConfigObj(Path(infile), create_empty=True)
+    assert Path(tmp_path / 'config.ini').is_file()
+
+def test_creating_a_file_from_string(tmp_path):
+    infile = str(tmp_path / 'config.ini')
+    assert not Path(infile).is_file()
+    c = ConfigObj(infile, create_empty=True)
+    assert Path(infile).is_file()
 
 class TestComments(object):
     @pytest.fixture