diff --git a/backend/python/diffusers/backend.py b/backend/python/diffusers/backend.py
index ef5f1b5c0..2c7ef2b24 100755
--- a/backend/python/diffusers/backend.py
+++ b/backend/python/diffusers/backend.py
@@ -475,11 +475,24 @@ class BackendServicer(backend_pb2_grpc.BackendServicer):
             "num_inference_steps": steps,
         }
 
-        if request.src != "" and not self.controlnet and not self.img2vid:
-            image = Image.open(request.src)
+        # Handle image source: prioritize RefImages over request.src
+        image_src = None
+        if hasattr(request, 'ref_images') and request.ref_images and len(request.ref_images) > 0:
+            # Use the first reference image if available
+            image_src = request.ref_images[0]
+            print(f"Using reference image: {image_src}", file=sys.stderr)
+        elif request.src != "":
+            # Fall back to request.src if no ref_images
+            image_src = request.src
+            print(f"Using source image: {image_src}", file=sys.stderr)
+        else:
+            print("No image source provided", file=sys.stderr)
+        
+        if image_src and not self.controlnet and not self.img2vid:
+            image = Image.open(image_src)
             options["image"] = image
-        elif self.controlnet and request.src:
-            pose_image = load_image(request.src)
+        elif self.controlnet and image_src:
+            pose_image = load_image(image_src)
             options["image"] = pose_image
 
         if CLIPSKIP and self.clip_skip != 0:
@@ -521,7 +534,11 @@ class BackendServicer(backend_pb2_grpc.BackendServicer):
 
         if self.img2vid:
             # Load the conditioning image
-            image = load_image(request.src)
+            if image_src:
+                image = load_image(image_src)
+            else:
+                # Fallback to request.src for img2vid if no ref_images
+                image = load_image(request.src)
             image = image.resize((1024, 576))
 
             generator = torch.manual_seed(request.seed)