diff --git a/easy_rec/python/utils/io_util.py b/easy_rec/python/utils/io_util.py
index 5cef1d9ef..7b4666391 100644
--- a/easy_rec/python/utils/io_util.py
+++ b/easy_rec/python/utils/io_util.py
@@ -213,12 +213,24 @@ def convert_tf_flags_to_argparse(flags):
         flag.choices if hasattr(flag, 'choices') else None
     ]
 
+  def str2bool(v):
+    if isinstance(v, bool):
+      return v
+    if v.lower() in ('yes', 'true', 't', 'y', '1'):
+      return True
+    elif v.lower() in ('no', 'false', 'f', 'n', '0'):
+      return False
+    else:
+      raise argparse.ArgumentTypeError('Boolean value expected.')
+
   for flag_name, (multi, flag_type, default, help_str, choices) in args.items():
     if flag_type == bool:
       parser.add_argument(
           '--' + flag_name,
-          dest=flag_name,
-          action='store_true' if default else 'store_false',
+          type=str2bool,
+          nargs='?',
+          const=True,
+          default=False,
           help=help_str)
     elif flag_type == str:
       if choices: