diff --git a/src/OpenMesh/Core/IO/reader/BaseReader.hh b/src/OpenMesh/Core/IO/reader/BaseReader.hh
index be9abc12..2720a5b7 100644
--- a/src/OpenMesh/Core/IO/reader/BaseReader.hh
+++ b/src/OpenMesh/Core/IO/reader/BaseReader.hh
@@ -132,6 +132,43 @@ protected:
 };
 
 
+/** \brief Trim left whitespace
+ *
+ * Removes whitespace at the beginning of the string
+ *
+ * @param _string input string
+ * @return trimmed string
+ */
+static inline std::string &left_trim(std::string &_string) {
+  _string.erase(_string.begin(), std::find_if(_string.begin(), _string.end(), std::not1(std::ptr_fun<int, int>(std::isspace))));
+  return _string;
+}
+
+/** \brief Trim right whitespace
+ *
+ * Removes whitespace at the end of the string
+ *
+ * @param _string input string
+ * @return trimmed string
+ */
+static inline std::string &right_trim(std::string &_string) {
+  _string.erase(std::find_if(_string.rbegin(), _string.rend(), std::not1(std::ptr_fun<int, int>(std::isspace))).base(), _string.end());
+  return _string;
+}
+
+/** \brief Trim whitespace
+ *
+ * Removes whitespace at the beginning and end of the string
+ *
+ * @param _string input string
+ * @return trimmed string
+ */
+static inline std::string &trim(std::string &_string) {
+  return left_trim(right_trim(_string));
+}
+
+
+
 //=============================================================================
 } // namespace IO
 } // namespace OpenMesh
diff --git a/src/OpenMesh/Core/IO/reader/PLYReader.cc b/src/OpenMesh/Core/IO/reader/PLYReader.cc
index f7497069..d92c7cde 100644
--- a/src/OpenMesh/Core/IO/reader/PLYReader.cc
+++ b/src/OpenMesh/Core/IO/reader/PLYReader.cc
@@ -107,8 +107,7 @@ _PLYReader_::_PLYReader_() {
 
 bool _PLYReader_::read(const std::string& _filename, BaseImporter& _bi, Options& _opt) {
 
-    std::fstream in(_filename.c_str(), (options_.is_binary() ? std::ios_base::binary | std::ios_base::in
-            : std::ios_base::in));
+    std::fstream in(_filename.c_str(), (std::ios_base::binary | std::ios_base::in) );
 
     if (!in.is_open() || !in.good()) {
         omerr() << "[PLYReader] : cannot not open file " << _filename << std::endl;
@@ -833,7 +832,6 @@ _PLYReader_::ValueType get_property_type(std::string _string1, std::string _stri
 
 //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-
 bool _PLYReader_::can_u_read(std::istream& _is) const {
 
     // Clear per file options
@@ -846,6 +844,7 @@ bool _PLYReader_::can_u_read(std::istream& _is) const {
     // read 1st line
     std::string line;
     std::getline(_is, line);
+    trim(line);
 
     //Check if this file is really a ply format
     if (line != "PLY" && line != "ply")