diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 4403f162b..e8cc4de8c 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ import os.path
 import warnings
 import sys
 import glob
+import io
+import zipfile
 
 try:
     from setuptools import setup
@@ -24,6 +26,16 @@ except ImportError:
         print("Cannot import py2exe", file=sys.stderr)
         exit(1)
 
+
+def zipped_folder(topdir):
+    f = io.BytesIO()
+    zipf = zipfile.ZipFile(f, mode='w')
+    for dirpath, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(topdir):
+        for filename in filenames:
+            zipf.write(os.path.join(dirpath, filename))
+    zipf.close()
+    return f.getvalue()
+
 py2exe_options = {
     "bundle_files": 1,
     "compressed": 1,
@@ -35,6 +47,7 @@ py2exe_options = {
 py2exe_console = [{
     "script": "./youtube_dl/__main__.py",
     "dest_base": "youtube-dl",
+    "other_resources": [(u'LOCALE_DATA', u'locale_data.zip', zipped_folder('share'))],
 }]
 
 py2exe_params = {
diff --git a/youtube_dl/utils.py b/youtube_dl/utils.py
index e3c3c3696..e6a770b01 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/utils.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/utils.py
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ import sys
 import tempfile
 import traceback
 import xml.etree.ElementTree
+import zipfile
 import zlib
 
 from .compat import (
@@ -2513,12 +2514,36 @@ class ISO3166Utils(object):
         return cls._country_map.get(code.upper())
 
 
+def _load_exe_resource(res_type, res_name):
+    kernel32 = ctypes.windll.kernel32
+
+    exe_handle = 0  # NULL: Current process
+
+    res_info = kernel32.FindResourceW(exe_handle, res_name, res_type)
+    res_handle = kernel32.LoadResource(exe_handle, res_info)
+    res_data = kernel32.LockResource(res_handle)
+    res_len = kernel32.SizeofResource(exe_handle, res_info)
+    res_arr = ctypes.cast(res_data, ctypes.POINTER(ctypes.c_char))[:res_len]
+    return res_arr
+
+
 def tr(s):
     DOMAIN = 'youtube_dl'
     lang, _ = locale.getdefaultlocale()
     try:
         t = gettext.translation(DOMAIN, find_file_in_root('share/locale/'), [lang])
     except (OSError, IOError):  # OSError for 3.3+ and IOError otherwise
+        t = None
+
+    if t is None and sys.platform == 'win32' and hasattr(sys, 'frozen'):
+        locale_data_zip = _load_exe_resource('LOCALE_DATA', 'LOCALE_DATA.ZIP')
+        f = io.BytesIO(locale_data_zip)
+        zipf = zipfile.ZipFile(f)
+        with zipf.open('share/locale/%s/LC_MESSAGES/%s.mo' % (lang, DOMAIN)) as mo_file:
+            t = gettext.GNUTranslations(mo_file)
+        zipf.close()
+
+    if t is None:
         return s
 
     ret = t.gettext(s)