diff --git a/hloc/pairs_from_retrieval.py b/hloc/pairs_from_retrieval.py
index 32336801..4ccfbc10 100644
--- a/hloc/pairs_from_retrieval.py
+++ b/hloc/pairs_from_retrieval.py
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ def main(
     db_list=None,
     db_model=None,
     db_descriptors=None,
+    match_mask=None,
 ):
     logger.info("Extracting image pairs from a retrieval database.")
 
@@ -108,8 +109,15 @@ def main(
     query_desc = get_descriptors(query_names, descriptors)
     sim = torch.einsum("id,jd->ij", query_desc.to(device), db_desc.to(device))
 
-    # Avoid self-matching
-    self = np.array(query_names)[:, None] == np.array(db_names)[None]
+    if match_mask is None:
+        # Avoid self-matching
+        self = np.array(query_names)[:, None] == np.array(db_names)[None]
+    else:
+        assert match_mask.shape == (
+            len(query_names),
+            len(db_names),
+        ), "mask shape must match size of query and database images!"
+        self = match_mask
     pairs = pairs_from_score_matrix(sim, self, num_matched, min_score=0)
     pairs = [(query_names[i], db_names[j]) for i, j in pairs]