diff --git a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
index 015d29708..685c20e67 100755
--- a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
@@ -76,7 +76,6 @@ from .utils import (
     std_headers,
     subtitles_filename,
     UnavailableVideoError,
-    InvalidSleepTimeError,
     url_basename,
     version_tuple,
     write_json_file,
@@ -1780,8 +1779,6 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
             except MaxDownloadsReached:
                 self.to_screen('[info] Maximum number of downloaded files reached.')
                 raise
-            except InvalidSleepTimeError:
-                self.report_error('Invalid argument for sleep')
             else:
                 if self.params.get('dump_single_json', False):
                     self.to_stdout(json.dumps(res))
diff --git a/youtube_dl/downloader/common.py b/youtube_dl/downloader/common.py
index 8747186c5..075c425be 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/downloader/common.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/downloader/common.py
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ from ..utils import (
     decodeArgument,
     format_bytes,
     timeconvert,
-    InvalidSleepTimeError
 )
 
 
@@ -347,21 +346,15 @@ class FileDownloader(object):
         sleep_interval = self.params.get('sleep_interval')
         if sleep_interval:
             min_sleep_interval = sleep_interval
-            max_sleep_interval = self.params.get('max_sleep_interval')
+            max_sleep_interval = self.params.get('max_sleep_interval') or min_sleep_interval
 
-            try:
-                if max_sleep_interval:
-                    sleep_time = random.uniform(
-                        float(min_sleep_interval),
-                        float(max_sleep_interval)
-                    )
-                else:
-                    sleep_time = float(min_sleep_interval)
+            sleep_time = random.uniform(
+                min_sleep_interval,
+                max_sleep_interval
+            )
 
-                self.to_screen('[download] Sleeping %s seconds...' % sleep_time)
-                time.sleep(sleep_time)
-            except (ValueError, IOError) as err:
-                raise InvalidSleepTimeError()
+            self.to_screen('[download] Sleeping %s seconds...' % sleep_time)
+            time.sleep(sleep_time)
 
         return self.real_download(filename, info_dict)
 
diff --git a/youtube_dl/utils.py b/youtube_dl/utils.py
index ad46277a4..f5cd6819b 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/utils.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/utils.py
@@ -752,15 +752,6 @@ class UnavailableVideoError(Exception):
     pass
 
 
-class InvalidSleepTimeError(Exception):
-    """Invalid sleep time provided exception
-
-    This exception will be thrown when user provides invalid
-    time for sleep in --sleep-interval or --max-sleep-interval.
-    """
-    pass
-
-
 class ContentTooShortError(Exception):
     """Content Too Short exception.