diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f52cf07..cea2053 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,16 +7,19 @@ project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
-### Added
-
-- The `dotenv_path` argument of `set_key` and `unset_key` now has a type of `Union[str,
-  os.PathLike]` instead of just `os.PathLike` (#347 by [@bbc2]).
-
 ### Changed
 
 - Require Python 3.5 or a later version.  Python 2 and 3.4 are no longer supported. (#341
   by [@bbc2]).
 
+### Added
+
+- The `dotenv_path` argument of `set_key` and `unset_key` now has a type of `Union[str,
+  os.PathLike]` instead of just `os.PathLike` (#347 by [@bbc2]).
+- The `stream` argument of `load_dotenv` and `dotenv_values` can now be a text stream
+  (`IO[str]`), which includes values like `io.StringIO("foo")` and `open("file.env",
+  "r")` (#348 by [@bbc2]).
+
 ## [0.18.0] - 2021-06-20
 
 ### Changed
diff --git a/src/dotenv/main.py b/src/dotenv/main.py
index d550f6f..b8d0a4e 100644
--- a/src/dotenv/main.py
+++ b/src/dotenv/main.py
@@ -33,13 +33,15 @@ def with_warn_for_invalid_lines(mappings: Iterator[Binding]) -> Iterator[Binding
 class DotEnv():
     def __init__(
         self,
-        dotenv_path: Union[str, _PathLike, io.StringIO],
+        dotenv_path: Optional[Union[str, _PathLike]],
+        stream: Optional[IO[str]] = None,
         verbose: bool = False,
         encoding: Union[None, str] = None,
         interpolate: bool = True,
         override: bool = True,
     ) -> None:
-        self.dotenv_path = dotenv_path  # type: Union[str,_PathLike, io.StringIO]
+        self.dotenv_path = dotenv_path  # type: Optional[Union[str, _PathLike]]
+        self.stream = stream  # type: Optional[IO[str]]
         self._dict = None  # type: Optional[Dict[str, Optional[str]]]
         self.verbose = verbose  # type: bool
         self.encoding = encoding  # type: Union[None, str]
@@ -48,14 +50,17 @@ class DotEnv():
 
     @contextmanager
     def _get_stream(self) -> Iterator[IO[str]]:
-        if isinstance(self.dotenv_path, io.StringIO):
-            yield self.dotenv_path
-        elif os.path.isfile(self.dotenv_path):
+        if self.dotenv_path and os.path.isfile(self.dotenv_path):
             with io.open(self.dotenv_path, encoding=self.encoding) as stream:
                 yield stream
+        elif self.stream is not None:
+            yield self.stream
         else:
             if self.verbose:
-                logger.info("Python-dotenv could not find configuration file %s.", self.dotenv_path or '.env')
+                logger.info(
+                    "Python-dotenv could not find configuration file %s.",
+                    self.dotenv_path or '.env',
+                )
             yield io.StringIO('')
 
     def dict(self) -> Dict[str, Optional[str]]:
@@ -290,7 +295,7 @@ def find_dotenv(
 
 def load_dotenv(
     dotenv_path: Union[str, _PathLike, None] = None,
-    stream: Optional[io.StringIO] = None,
+    stream: Optional[IO[str]] = None,
     verbose: bool = False,
     override: bool = False,
     interpolate: bool = True,
@@ -299,7 +304,8 @@ def load_dotenv(
     """Parse a .env file and then load all the variables found as environment variables.
 
     - *dotenv_path*: absolute or relative path to .env file.
-    - *stream*: `StringIO` object with .env content, used if `dotenv_path` is `None`.
+    - *stream*: Text stream (such as `io.StringIO`) with .env content, used if
+      `dotenv_path` is `None`.
     - *verbose*: whether to output a warning the .env file is missing. Defaults to
       `False`.
     - *override*: whether to override the system environment variables with the variables
@@ -308,9 +314,12 @@ def load_dotenv(
 
     If both `dotenv_path` and `stream`, `find_dotenv()` is used to find the .env file.
     """
-    f = dotenv_path or stream or find_dotenv()
+    if dotenv_path is None and stream is None:
+        dotenv_path = find_dotenv()
+
     dotenv = DotEnv(
-        f,
+        dotenv_path=dotenv_path,
+        stream=stream,
         verbose=verbose,
         interpolate=interpolate,
         override=override,
@@ -321,7 +330,7 @@ def load_dotenv(
 
 def dotenv_values(
     dotenv_path: Union[str, _PathLike, None] = None,
-    stream: Optional[io.StringIO] = None,
+    stream: Optional[IO[str]] = None,
     verbose: bool = False,
     interpolate: bool = True,
     encoding: Optional[str] = "utf-8",
@@ -338,9 +347,12 @@ def dotenv_values(
 
     If both `dotenv_path` and `stream`, `find_dotenv()` is used to find the .env file.
     """
-    f = dotenv_path or stream or find_dotenv()
+    if dotenv_path is None and stream is None:
+        dotenv_path = find_dotenv()
+
     return DotEnv(
-        f,
+        dotenv_path=dotenv_path,
+        stream=stream,
         verbose=verbose,
         interpolate=interpolate,
         override=True,

diff --git a/tests/test_main.py b/tests/test_main.py
index d612bb2..13e2791 100644
--- a/tests/test_main.py
+++ b/tests/test_main.py
@@ -277,7 +277,7 @@ def test_load_dotenv_redefine_var_used_in_file_with_override(dotenv_file):
 
 
 @mock.patch.dict(os.environ, {}, clear=True)
-def test_load_dotenv_utf_8():
+def test_load_dotenv_string_io_utf_8():
     stream = io.StringIO("a=à")
 
     result = dotenv.load_dotenv(stream=stream)
@@ -286,6 +286,18 @@ def test_load_dotenv_utf_8():
     assert os.environ == {"a": "à"}
 
 
+@mock.patch.dict(os.environ, {}, clear=True)
+def test_load_dotenv_file_stream(dotenv_file):
+    with open(dotenv_file, "w") as f:
+        f.write("a=b")
+
+    with open(dotenv_file, "r") as f:
+        result = dotenv.load_dotenv(stream=f)
+
+    assert result is True
+    assert os.environ == {"a": "b"}
+
+
 def test_load_dotenv_in_current_dir(tmp_path):
     dotenv_path = tmp_path / '.env'
     dotenv_path.write_bytes(b'a=b')
@@ -353,7 +365,7 @@ def test_dotenv_values_file(dotenv_file):
         ({}, "a=b\nc=${a}\nd=e\nc=${d}", True, {"a": "b", "c": "e", "d": "e"}),
     ],
 )
-def test_dotenv_values_stream(env, string, interpolate, expected):
+def test_dotenv_values_string_io(env, string, interpolate, expected):
     with mock.patch.dict(os.environ, env, clear=True):
         stream = io.StringIO(string)
         stream.seek(0)
@@ -361,3 +373,13 @@ def test_dotenv_values_stream(env, string, interpolate, expected):
         result = dotenv.dotenv_values(stream=stream, interpolate=interpolate)
 
         assert result == expected
+
+
+def test_dotenv_values_file_stream(dotenv_file):
+    with open(dotenv_file, "w") as f:
+        f.write("a=b")
+
+    with open(dotenv_file, "r") as f:
+        result = dotenv.dotenv_values(stream=f)
+
+    assert result == {"a": "b"}

Stream as any text file?
As noted before
#208
#156
the code spec
https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/blob/a7fe93f6cc73ab9de28191e3854f1a713d53363b/src/dotenv/main.py#L301
is unusually restrictive.
It'd be useful to accept any text file as a stream.
My use case would be packaging a `.env.defaults` file opened by [importlib.resources.open_text](https://docs.python.org/3/library/importlib.html#importlib.resources.open_text), so you can uniformly manage/document environment & defaults via `.env` files.
tests/test_main.py::test_load_dotenv_file_stream tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_file_stream
tests/test_main.py::test_set_key_no_file tests/test_main.py::test_set_key[-a--expected0-a=''\n] tests/test_main.py::test_set_key[-a-b-expected1-a='b'\n] tests/test_main.py::test_set_key[-a-'b'-expected2-a='\\'b\\''\n] tests/test_main.py::test_set_key[-a-"b"-expected3-a='"b"'\n] tests/test_main.py::test_set_key[-a-b'c-expected4-a='b\\'c'\n] tests/test_main.py::test_set_key[-a-b"c-expected5-a='b"c'\n] tests/test_main.py::test_set_key[a=b-a-c-expected6-a='c'\n] tests/test_main.py::test_set_key[a=b\n-a-c-expected7-a='c'\n] tests/test_main.py::test_set_key[a=b\n\n-a-c-expected8-a='c'\n\n] tests/test_main.py::test_set_key[a=b\nc=d-a-e-expected9-a='e'\nc=d] tests/test_main.py::test_set_key[a=b\nc=d\ne=f-c-g-expected10-a=b\nc='g'\ne=f] tests/test_main.py::test_set_key[a=b\n-c-d-expected11-a=b\nc='d'\n] tests/test_main.py::test_get_key_no_file tests/test_main.py::test_get_key_not_found tests/test_main.py::test_get_key_ok tests/test_main.py::test_get_key_none tests/test_main.py::test_unset_with_value tests/test_main.py::test_unset_no_value tests/test_main.py::test_unset_non_existent_file tests/test_main.py::test_find_dotenv_no_file_raise tests/test_main.py::test_find_dotenv_no_file_no_raise tests/test_main.py::test_find_dotenv_found tests/test_main.py::test_load_dotenv_existing_file tests/test_main.py::test_load_dotenv_no_file_verbose tests/test_main.py::test_load_dotenv_existing_variable_no_override tests/test_main.py::test_load_dotenv_existing_variable_override tests/test_main.py::test_load_dotenv_redefine_var_used_in_file_no_override tests/test_main.py::test_load_dotenv_redefine_var_used_in_file_with_override tests/test_main.py::test_load_dotenv_string_io_utf_8 tests/test_main.py::test_load_dotenv_in_current_dir tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_file tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_string_io[env0-a=$b-False-expected0] tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_string_io[env1-a=$b-True-expected1] tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_string_io[env2-a=${b}-False-expected2] tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_string_io[env3-a=${b}-True-expected3] tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_string_io[env4-a=${b:-d}-False-expected4] tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_string_io[env5-a=${b:-d}-True-expected5] tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_string_io[env6-b=c\na=${b}-True-expected6] tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_string_io[env7-a=${b}-True-expected7] tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_string_io[env8-a=${b:-d}-True-expected8] tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_string_io[env9-a="${b}"-True-expected9] tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_string_io[env10-a='${b}'-True-expected10] tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_string_io[env11-a=x${b}y-True-expected11] tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_string_io[env12-a=${a}-True-expected12] tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_string_io[env13-a=${a}-True-expected13] tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_string_io[env14-a=${a:-c}-True-expected14] tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_string_io[env15-a=${a:-c}-True-expected15] tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_string_io[env16-a=${b}${b}-True-expected16] tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_string_io[env17-b=d\na=${b}-True-expected17] tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_string_io[env18-a=b\na=c\nd=${a}-True-expected18] tests/test_main.py::test_dotenv_values_string_io[env19-a=b\nc=${a}\nd=e\nc=${d}-True-expected19]