diff --git a/test/test_utils.py b/test/test_utils.py
index 1439a974368..b08810895bf 100644
--- a/test/test_utils.py
+++ b/test/test_utils.py
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ def test_draw_boxes_vanilla():
     img = torch.full((3, 100, 100), 0, dtype=torch.uint8)
     img_cp = img.clone()
     boxes_cp = boxes.clone()
-    result = utils.draw_bounding_boxes(img, boxes, fill=False, width=7)
+    result = utils.draw_bounding_boxes(img, boxes, fill=False, width=7, colors="white")
 
     path = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)), "assets", "fakedata", "draw_boxes_vanilla.png")
     if not os.path.exists(path):
diff --git a/torchvision/utils.py b/torchvision/utils.py
index 399dc3fcc5a..d45f8c2a7f5 100644
--- a/torchvision/utils.py
+++ b/torchvision/utils.py
@@ -199,10 +199,16 @@ def draw_bounding_boxes(
 
     txt_font = ImageFont.load_default() if font is None else ImageFont.truetype(font=font, size=font_size)
 
+    if colors is None:
+        if labels is None:
+            colors = _generate_color_palette(len(img_boxes))
+        else:
+            assert len(labels) == len(img_boxes)
+            label_color_map = dict(zip(labels, _generate_color_palette(len(labels))))
+            colors = [label_color_map[label] for label in labels]
+
     for i, bbox in enumerate(img_boxes):
-        if colors is None:
-            color = None
-        elif isinstance(colors, list):
+        if isinstance(colors, list):
             color = colors[i]
         else:
             color = colors