diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 6f39d837428..610e2ca5ba9 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -225,6 +225,7 @@
 ] + ['datasets']
 
 EXTRAS = {
+    'gcs_prefer_fsspec': ['fsspec', 'gcsfs'],
     'matplotlib': ['matplotlib'],
     'tensorflow': ['tensorflow>=2.1'],
     'tf-nightly': ['tf-nightly'],
diff --git a/tensorflow_datasets/__init__.py b/tensorflow_datasets/__init__.py
index 9251bc58e93..293c642056e 100644
--- a/tensorflow_datasets/__init__.py
+++ b/tensorflow_datasets/__init__.py
@@ -39,6 +39,11 @@
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import os
+
+if os.environ.get('GCS_PREFER_FSSPEC') == 'true':
+  os.environ['EPATH_PREFER_FSSPEC'] = 'true'
+
 from absl import logging
 from etils import epy as _epy
 
diff --git a/tensorflow_datasets/import_test.py b/tensorflow_datasets/import_test.py
index 4620a8fec0c..f72a95484b7 100644
--- a/tensorflow_datasets/import_test.py
+++ b/tensorflow_datasets/import_test.py
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@
 
 """Test import."""
 
+import os
+import subprocess
+import sys
 import tensorflow_datasets as tfds
 
 
@@ -23,6 +26,52 @@ class ImportTest(tfds.testing.TestCase):
   def test_import(self):
     pass
 
+  def test_gcs_prefer_fsspec_true(self):
+    env = os.environ.copy()
+    env['GCS_PREFER_FSSPEC'] = 'true'
+    env.pop('EPATH_PREFER_FSSPEC', None)
+
+    code = """
+import os
+import tensorflow_datasets as tfds
+from etils import epath
+print("EPATH_PREFER_FSSPEC:", os.environ.get('EPATH_PREFER_FSSPEC'))
+p = epath.Path('gs://dummy-bucket/file.txt')
+print("BACKEND:", type(p._backend).__name__)
+"""
+    result = subprocess.run(
+        [sys.executable, '-c', code],
+        env=env,
+        capture_output=True,
+        text=True,
+        check=True,
+    )
+    self.assertIn("EPATH_PREFER_FSSPEC: true", result.stdout)
+    self.assertIn("BACKEND: _FileSystemSpecBackend", result.stdout)
+
+  def test_gcs_prefer_fsspec_false(self):
+    env = os.environ.copy()
+    env.pop('GCS_PREFER_FSSPEC', None)
+    env.pop('EPATH_PREFER_FSSPEC', None)
+
+    code = """
+import os
+import tensorflow_datasets as tfds
+from etils import epath
+print("EPATH_PREFER_FSSPEC:", os.environ.get('EPATH_PREFER_FSSPEC'))
+p = epath.Path('gs://dummy-bucket/file.txt')
+print("BACKEND:", type(p._backend).__name__)
+"""
+    result = subprocess.run(
+        [sys.executable, '-c', code],
+        env=env,
+        capture_output=True,
+        text=True,
+        check=True,
+    )
+    self.assertIn("EPATH_PREFER_FSSPEC: None", result.stdout)
+    self.assertIn("BACKEND: _TfBackend", result.stdout)
+
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
   tfds.testing.test_main()