diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
index bd24a2838..c429fd2fa 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
@@ -1223,7 +1223,7 @@ class YoutubeIE(YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor):
 
         # Get video webpage
         url = proto + '://www.youtube.com/watch?v=%s&gl=US&hl=en&has_verified=1&bpctr=9999999999' % video_id
-        video_webpage = self._download_webpage(url, video_id)
+        video_webpage = self._download_webpage(url, video_id, headers = {'accept-encoding': 'identity'})
 
         # Attempt to extract SWF player URL
         mobj = re.search(r'swfConfig.*?"(https?:\\/\\/.*?watch.*?-.*?\.swf)"', video_webpage)