diff --git a/scanpy/readwrite.py b/scanpy/readwrite.py
index 9bac25bf4e..168420f719 100644
--- a/scanpy/readwrite.py
+++ b/scanpy/readwrite.py
@@ -356,6 +356,7 @@ def read_visium(
     library_id: str | None = None,
     load_images: bool | None = True,
     source_image_path: Path | str | None = None,
+    spaceranger_image_path: Path | str | None = None,
 ) -> AnnData:
     """\
     Read 10x-Genomics-formatted visum dataset.
@@ -383,6 +384,9 @@ def read_visium(
     source_image_path
         Path to the high-resolution tissue image. Path will be included in
         `.uns["spatial"][library_id]["metadata"]["source_image_path"]`.
+    spaceranger_image_path
+        Path to the folder containing the spaceranger output hires/lowres tissue images. If `None`, 
+        will go with the `spatial` folder of the provided `path`.
 
     Returns
     -------
@@ -415,6 +419,12 @@ def read_visium(
         Spatial spot coordinates, usable as `basis` by :func:`~scanpy.pl.embedding`.
     """
     path = Path(path)
+    #if not provided, assume the hires/lowres images are in the same folder as everything
+    #except in the spatial subdirectory
+    if spaceranger_image_path is None:
+        spaceranger_image_path = path / "spatial"
+    else:
+        spaceranger_image_path = Path(spaceranger_image_path)
     adata = read_10x_h5(path / count_file, genome=genome)
 
     adata.uns["spatial"] = dict()
@@ -432,13 +442,14 @@ def read_visium(
         tissue_positions_file = (
             path / "spatial/tissue_positions.csv"
             if (path / "spatial/tissue_positions.csv").exists()
+            else path / "spatial/tissue_positions.parquet" if (path / "spatial/tissue_positions.parquet").exists()
             else path / "spatial/tissue_positions_list.csv"
         )
         files = dict(
             tissue_positions_file=tissue_positions_file,
             scalefactors_json_file=path / "spatial/scalefactors_json.json",
-            hires_image=path / "spatial/tissue_hires_image.png",
-            lowres_image=path / "spatial/tissue_lowres_image.png",
+            hires_image=spaceranger_image_path / "tissue_hires_image.png",
+            lowres_image=spaceranger_image_path / "tissue_lowres_image.png",
         )
 
         # check if files exists, continue if images are missing
@@ -473,11 +484,16 @@ def read_visium(
         }
 
         # read coordinates
-        positions = pd.read_csv(
-            files["tissue_positions_file"],
-            header=0 if tissue_positions_file.name == "tissue_positions.csv" else None,
-            index_col=0,
-        )
+        if files["tissue_positions_file"].name.endswith(".csv"):
+            positions = pd.read_csv(
+                files["tissue_positions_file"],
+                header=0 if tissue_positions_file.name == "tissue_positions.csv" else None,
+                index_col=0,
+            )
+        elif files["tissue_positions_file"].name.endswith(".parquet"):
+            positions = pd.read_parquet(files["tissue_positions_file"])
+            #need to set the barcode to be the index
+            positions.set_index("barcode", inplace=True)
         positions.columns = [
             "in_tissue",
             "array_row",