diff --git a/sqlite_utils/export.py b/sqlite_utils/export.py
index 9cde7dc..754fc74 100644
--- a/sqlite_utils/export.py
+++ b/sqlite_utils/export.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import csv
-from typing import Any, Sequence, TextIO, Union
+from typing import Any, Sequence, TextIO, Type, Union
 
-CsvDialect = Union[str, csv.Dialect]
+CsvDialect = Union[str, csv.Dialect, Type[csv.Dialect]]
 
 
 def rows_to_csv_file(
diff --git a/tests/test_export.py b/tests/test_export.py
index a72b2bf..b2a0309 100644
--- a/tests/test_export.py
+++ b/tests/test_export.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import csv
 import io
 import sqlite3
 
@@ -40,6 +41,17 @@ def test_rows_to_csv_file_tsv():
     db.close()
 
 
+def test_rows_to_csv_file_accepts_dialect_class():
+    class PipeDialect(csv.excel):
+        delimiter = "|"
+
+    db, cursor = _cursor()
+    output = io.StringIO(newline="")
+    rows_to_csv_file(cursor, output, dialect=PipeDialect, lineterminator="\n")
+    assert output.getvalue() == "id|name\n1|Cleo\n2|Cardi, Jr.\n"
+    db.close()
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("header", (True, False))
 def test_rows_to_csv_file_requires_result_columns(header):
     db = sqlite3.connect(":memory:")