diff --git a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
index d4dd05d8c..a88df9cd0 100755
--- a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ from .utils import (
     write_string,
     YoutubeDLHandler,
     prepend_extension,
+    StopDownloads
 )
 from .extractor import get_info_extractor, gen_extractors
 from .downloader import get_suitable_downloader
@@ -186,6 +187,8 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
         self._ies = []
         self._ies_instances = {}
         self._pps = []
+        self._stop = False
+        self._pause = False
         self._progress_hooks = []
         self._download_retcode = 0
         self._num_downloads = 0
@@ -980,6 +983,9 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
                         fd = get_suitable_downloader(info)(self, self.params)
                         for ph in self._progress_hooks:
                             fd.add_progress_hook(ph)
+                        # Add stop, pause handlers 
+                        fd.add_stop_handler(self._stop_handler)
+                        fd.add_pause_handler(self._pause_handler)
                         return fd.download(name, info)
                     if info_dict.get('requested_formats') is not None:
                         downloaded = []
@@ -1013,6 +1019,8 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
                 except (ContentTooShortError, ) as err:
                     self.report_error('content too short (expected %s bytes and served %s)' % (err.expected, err.downloaded))
                     return
+                except StopDownloads:
+		    return
 
             if success:
                 try:
@@ -1023,6 +1031,28 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
 
         self.record_download_archive(info_dict)
 
+    def _stop_handler(self):
+	""" Return self._stop status """
+	return self._stop
+	
+    def _pause_handler(self):
+	""" Return self._pause status """
+	return self._pause
+        
+    def stop(self):
+	""" Stop downloads """
+	if self._stop:
+	  self._stop = False
+	else:
+	  self._stop = True
+	  
+    def pause(self):
+	""" Pause/Resume downloads """
+	if self._pause:
+	  self._pause = False
+	else:
+	  self._pause = True
+        
     def download(self, url_list):
         """Download a given list of URLs."""
         if (len(url_list) > 1 and
diff --git a/youtube_dl/downloader/common.py b/youtube_dl/downloader/common.py
index 917f3450e..b8ce20af0 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/downloader/common.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/downloader/common.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ from ..utils import (
     encodeFilename,
     format_bytes,
     timeconvert,
+    StopDownloads
 )
 
 
@@ -49,6 +50,8 @@ class FileDownloader(object):
         self.ydl = ydl
         self._progress_hooks = []
         self.params = params
+        self._stop_handler = None
+        self._pause_handler = None
 
     @staticmethod
     def format_seconds(seconds):
@@ -155,7 +158,7 @@ class FileDownloader(object):
         speed = float(byte_counter) / elapsed
         if speed > rate_limit:
             time.sleep((byte_counter - rate_limit * (now - start_time)) / rate_limit)
-
+            
     def temp_name(self, filename):
         """Returns a temporary filename for the given filename."""
         if self.params.get('nopart', False) or filename == u'-' or \
@@ -298,6 +301,28 @@ class FileDownloader(object):
         for ph in self._progress_hooks:
             ph(status)
 
+    def _stop(self):
+	""" Check stop handler """
+	if self._stop_handler is not None:
+	  if self._stop_handler():
+	    raise StopDownloads()
+      
+    def _pause(self):
+	""" Check pause/resume handler """
+	if self._pause_handler is not None:
+	  while self._pause_handler():
+	    # Break if stop handler enable
+	    if self._stop_handler(): break
+	    time.sleep(1)
+    
+    def add_stop_handler(self, shand):
+	""" shand gets checked. If True raise StopDownloads """
+	self._stop_handler = shand
+      
+    def add_pause_handler(self, phand):
+	""" phand gets checked. If True pause downloads """
+	self._pause_handler = phand
+    
     def add_progress_hook(self, ph):
         """ ph gets called on download progress, with a dictionary with the entries
         * filename: The final filename
diff --git a/youtube_dl/downloader/http.py b/youtube_dl/downloader/http.py
index cc8b9c9a7..4f18c9e26 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/downloader/http.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/downloader/http.py
@@ -162,6 +162,12 @@ class HttpFD(FileDownloader):
                 'speed': speed,
             })
 
+            # Check stop handler
+            self._stop()
+            
+            # Check pause handler
+            self._pause()
+            
             # Apply rate limit
             self.slow_down(start, byte_counter - resume_len)
 
diff --git a/youtube_dl/utils.py b/youtube_dl/utils.py
index 9c9320934..3daf42d99 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/utils.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/utils.py
@@ -655,6 +655,9 @@ class MaxDownloadsReached(Exception):
     """ --max-downloads limit has been reached. """
     pass
 
+class StopDownloads(Exception):
+    """ Stop Downloads """
+    pass
 
 class UnavailableVideoError(Exception):
     """Unavailable Format exception.