diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e147035..7b55e8f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -6,7 +6,13 @@ This project focus on:
 * rootless
 * daemon-less process model, we directly execute podman, no running daemon.
 
-This project only depend on `podman` and Python3 and [PyYAML](https://pyyaml.org/).
+This project only depend on:
+
+* `podman`
+* Python3
+* [PyYAML](https://pyyaml.org/)
+* [python-dotenv](https://pypi.org/project/python-dotenv/)
+
 And it's formed as a single python file script that you can drop into your PATH and run.
 
 ## References:
diff --git a/podman_compose.py b/podman_compose.py
index bb59576..215e7f5 100755
--- a/podman_compose.py
+++ b/podman_compose.py
@@ -32,8 +32,8 @@ except ImportError:
 # import fnmatch
 # fnmatch.fnmatchcase(env, "*_HOST")
 
-import json
 import yaml
+from dotenv import dotenv_values
 
 __version__ = '1.0.1'
 
@@ -908,6 +908,10 @@ def resolve_extends(services, service_names, environ):
         new_service = rec_merge({}, from_service, service)
         services[name] = new_service
 
+def dotenv_to_dict(dotenv_path):
+    if not os.path.isfile(dotenv_path):
+        return {}
+    return dotenv_values(dotenv_path)
 
 class PodmanCompose:
     def __init__(self):
@@ -1021,10 +1025,7 @@ class PodmanCompose:
 
         dotenv_path = os.path.join(dirname, ".env")
         self.environ = dict(os.environ)
-        if os.path.isfile(dotenv_path):
-            with open(dotenv_path, 'r') as f:
-                dotenv_ls = [l.strip() for l in f if l.strip() and not l.startswith('#')]
-                self.environ.update(dict([l.split("=", 1) for l in dotenv_ls if "=" in l]))
+        self.environ.update(dotenv_to_dict(dotenv_path))
         # TODO: should read and respect those env variables
         # see: https://docs.docker.com/compose/reference/envvars/
         # see: https://docs.docker.com/compose/env-file/
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 8b537a2..d61cdb7 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -3,3 +3,5 @@
 # process, which may cause wedges in the gate later.
 
 pyyaml
+python-dotenv
+
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 9ffe3d0..5a1921d 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -36,7 +36,8 @@ setup(
     include_package_data=True,
     license='GPL-2.0-only',
     install_requires=[
-        'pyyaml'
+        'pyyaml',
+        'python-dotenv',
     ],
     # test_suite='tests',
     # tests_require=[