diff --git a/Tests/helper.py b/Tests/helper.py
index 8510a05f067..1297c1c4309 100644
--- a/Tests/helper.py
+++ b/Tests/helper.py
@@ -304,7 +304,13 @@ def _cached_hopper(mode: str) -> Image.Image:
         with pytest.warns(DeprecationWarning):
             im = im.convert(mode)
     else:
-        im = im.convert(mode)
+        try:
+            im = im.convert(mode)
+        except ImportError:
+            if mode == "LAB":
+                im = Image.open("Tests/images/hopper.Lab.tif")
+            else:
+                raise
     return im