diff --git a/xarray/backends/rasterio_.py b/xarray/backends/rasterio_.py
index 49a5a9ec7ae..3da40688a47 100644
--- a/xarray/backends/rasterio_.py
+++ b/xarray/backends/rasterio_.py
@@ -39,7 +39,10 @@ def __init__(self, manager, lock, vrt_params=None):
         dtypes = riods.dtypes
         if not np.all(np.asarray(dtypes) == dtypes[0]):
             raise ValueError("All bands should have the same dtype")
-        self._dtype = np.dtype(dtypes[0])
+        if dtypes[0] != 'complex_int16' :
+            self._dtype = np.dtype(dtypes[0])
+        else :
+            self._dtype = complex
 
     @property
     def dtype(self):
diff --git a/xarray/tests/test_backends.py b/xarray/tests/test_backends.py
index 5079cd390f1..675026eff75 100644
--- a/xarray/tests/test_backends.py
+++ b/xarray/tests/test_backends.py
@@ -4137,6 +4137,7 @@ def create_tmp_geotiff(
     crs=default_value,
     open_kwargs=None,
     additional_attrs=None,
+    specific_dtype=None
 ):
     if transform_args is default_value:
         transform_args = [5000, 80000, 1000, 2000.0]
@@ -4163,7 +4164,11 @@ def create_tmp_geotiff(
         else:
             data_shape = nz, ny, nx
             write_kwargs = {}
-        data = np.arange(nz * ny * nx, dtype=rasterio.float32).reshape(*data_shape)
+        if specific_dtype is None:
+            specific_dtype = rasterio.float32
+            data = np.arange(nz * ny * nx, dtype=rasterio.float32).reshape(*data_shape)
+        else:
+            data = np.arange(nz * ny * nx,dtype=rasterio.float32).reshape(*data_shape)
         if transform is None:
             transform = from_origin(*transform_args)
         if additional_attrs is None:
@@ -4180,7 +4185,7 @@ def create_tmp_geotiff(
             count=nz,
             crs=crs,
             transform=transform,
-            dtype=rasterio.float32,
+            dtype=specific_dtype,
             **open_kwargs,
         ) as s:
             for attr, val in additional_attrs.items():
@@ -4697,6 +4702,14 @@ def test_rasterio_vrt_network(self):
                         assert actual_res == expected_res
                         assert expected_val == actual_val
 
+    def test_rasterio_complex_dtype( self ):
+        import rasterio
+        with create_tmp_geotiff(specific_dtype='complex_int16',
+                                ) as (tmp_file, _):
+            with rasterio.open(tmp_file) as riobj:
+                assert riobj.dtypes[0]=='complex_int16'
+            with xr.open_rasterio(tmp_file) as rioda:
+                assert rioda.dtype==complex
 
 class TestEncodingInvalid:
     def test_extract_nc4_variable_encoding(self):