diff --git a/youtube_dl/__init__.py b/youtube_dl/__init__.py
index 77b3384a0..8aa48f1cd 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/__init__.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/__init__.py
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ from .update import update_self
 from .downloader import (
     FileDownloader,
 )
-from .extractor import gen_extractors
+from .extractor import gen_extractors, gen_plugin_extractors
 from .YoutubeDL import YoutubeDL
 from .postprocessor import (
     AtomicParsleyPP,
@@ -105,7 +105,13 @@ def _real_main(argv=None):
     _enc = preferredencoding()
     all_urls = [url.decode(_enc, 'ignore') if isinstance(url, bytes) else url for url in all_urls]
 
-    extractors = gen_extractors()
+    # Load plugin extractors
+    if os.path.isdir(opts.plugin_extractors_dir) and not opts.ignore_plugin_extractors:
+      extractors = gen_plugin_extractors(opts.plugin_extractors_dir)
+    else:
+      extractors = []
+    
+    extractors += gen_extractors()
 
     if opts.list_extractors:
         for ie in sorted(extractors, key=lambda ie: ie.IE_NAME.lower()):
diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py
index 9387feef1..ac22d5d2b 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py
@@ -523,6 +523,7 @@ from .zingmp3 import (
     ZingMp3SongIE,
     ZingMp3AlbumIE,
 )
+import os
 
 _ALL_CLASSES = [
     klass
@@ -538,7 +539,29 @@ def gen_extractors():
     """
     return [klass() for klass in _ALL_CLASSES]
 
+def gen_plugin_extractors(plugin_dir, verbosity = False):
+    """ Return a list of an instance of every plugin extractor found in the
+    plugin directory. Scan every .py file in plugin_dir for classes with names
+    ending in 'IE'.
+    """
+    classes = []
+    
+    for file_ in os.listdir(plugin_dir):
+      if not file_.endswith(".py"):
+        continue
+      
+      file_globals = {}
+      exec(open(os.path.join(plugin_dir, file_), "r").read(), file_globals)
+          
+      for name, class_ in file_globals.items():
+        if name.endswith("IE"):
+          #Add the class to this modules globals so that get_info_extractor works
+          globals()[name] = class_
+          classes.append(class_)
+          
+    return [class_() for class_ in classes]
 
 def get_info_extractor(ie_name):
     """Returns the info extractor class with the given ie_name"""
     return globals()[ie_name + 'IE']
+
diff --git a/youtube_dl/options.py b/youtube_dl/options.py
index 2e8c71508..cb1531700 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/options.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/options.py
@@ -68,6 +68,18 @@ def parseOpts(overrideArguments=None):
 
         return userConf
 
+    def _get_default_plugin_extractors_dir():
+        """ Return the default plugin extractors directory.
+        If XDG_CONFIG_HOME is set, then the location is XDG_CONFIG_HOME/youtube-dl/extractors,
+        otherwise it is ~/.config/youtube-dl/extractors.
+        """
+        xdg_config_home = compat_getenv('XDG_CONFIG_HOME')
+        if xdg_config_home:
+          return os.path.join(xdg_config_home, 'youtube-dl', 'extractors')
+        else:
+          return os.path.join(compat_expanduser('~'), '.config', 'youtube-dl', 'extractors')
+          
+          
     def _format_option_string(option):
         ''' ('-o', '--option') -> -o, --format METAVAR'''
 
@@ -148,6 +160,15 @@ def parseOpts(overrideArguments=None):
         '--extractor-descriptions',
         action='store_true', dest='list_extractor_descriptions', default=False,
         help='Output descriptions of all supported extractors')
+    general.add_option(
+        '--plugin-extractors-dir', default=_get_default_plugin_extractors_dir(),
+        metavar='PATH',
+        action='store',
+        help='All .py files in this directory are scanned for extractor classes ending in IE and are loaded. (default: %default)')
+    general.add_option(
+        '--ignore-plugin-extractors',
+        action='store_true', default=False,
+        help='Do not load extractors in the plugin directory')
     general.add_option(
         '--proxy', dest='proxy',
         default=None, metavar='URL',