diff --git a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
index 2f242e87b..36ce66e23 100755
--- a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
@@ -1327,11 +1327,11 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
             # Automatically determine file extension if missing
             if 'ext' not in format:
                 format['ext'] = determine_ext(format['url']).lower()
-            # Automatically determine protocol if missing (useful for format
-            # selection purposes)
-            if 'protocol' not in format:
-                format['protocol'] = determine_protocol(format)
             if 'parts' not in format:
+                # Automatically determine protocol if missing (useful for format
+                # selection purposes)
+                if 'protocol' not in format:
+                    format['protocol'] = determine_protocol(format)
                 # Add HTTP headers, so that external programs can use them from the
                 # json output
                 full_format_info = info_dict.copy()
diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py
index b689e5bf5..efd078b69 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py
@@ -863,7 +863,7 @@ class InfoExtractor(object):
                 if f.get('ext') in ['f4f', 'f4m']:  # Not yet supported
                     preference -= 0.5
 
-            proto_preference = 0 if determine_protocol(f) in ['http', 'https'] else -0.1
+            proto_preference = 0 if 'url' in f and determine_protocol(f) in ['http', 'https'] else -0.1
 
             if f.get('vcodec') == 'none':  # audio only
                 if self._downloader.params.get('prefer_free_formats'):