diff --git a/youtube_dl/options/common.py b/youtube_dl/options/common.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..70b311daf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/youtube_dl/options/common.py
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
+import os
+
+from youtube_dl.compat import (
+    compat_expanduser,
+    compat_getenv,
+    compat_shlex_split,
+)
+
+__all__ = ['_readOptions', '_readUserConf', '_format_option_string',
+           '_comma_separated_values_options_callback', '_hide_login_info']
+
+def _readOptions(filename_bytes, default=[]):
+    try:
+        optionf = open(filename_bytes)
+    except IOError:
+        return default  # silently skip if file is not present
+    try:
+        res = []
+        for l in optionf:
+            res += compat_shlex_split(l, comments=True)
+    finally:
+        optionf.close()
+    return res
+
+def _readUserConf():
+    xdg_config_home = compat_getenv('XDG_CONFIG_HOME')
+    if xdg_config_home:
+        userConfFile = os.path.join(xdg_config_home, 'youtube-dl', 'config')
+        if not os.path.isfile(userConfFile):
+            userConfFile = os.path.join(xdg_config_home, 'youtube-dl.conf')
+    else:
+        userConfFile = os.path.join(compat_expanduser('~'), '.config', 'youtube-dl', 'config')
+        if not os.path.isfile(userConfFile):
+            userConfFile = os.path.join(compat_expanduser('~'), '.config', 'youtube-dl.conf')
+    userConf = _readOptions(userConfFile, None)
+
+    if userConf is None:
+        appdata_dir = compat_getenv('appdata')
+        if appdata_dir:
+            userConf = _readOptions(
+                os.path.join(appdata_dir, 'youtube-dl', 'config'),
+                default=None)
+            if userConf is None:
+                userConf = _readOptions(
+                    os.path.join(appdata_dir, 'youtube-dl', 'config.txt'),
+                    default=None)
+
+    if userConf is None:
+        userConf = _readOptions(
+            os.path.join(compat_expanduser('~'), 'youtube-dl.conf'),
+            default=None)
+    if userConf is None:
+        userConf = _readOptions(
+            os.path.join(compat_expanduser('~'), 'youtube-dl.conf.txt'),
+            default=None)
+
+    if userConf is None:
+        userConf = []
+
+    return userConf
+
+def _format_option_string(option):
+    ''' ('-o', '--option') -> -o, --format METAVAR'''
+
+    opts = []
+
+    if option._short_opts:
+        opts.append(option._short_opts[0])
+    if option._long_opts:
+        opts.append(option._long_opts[0])
+    if len(opts) > 1:
+        opts.insert(1, ', ')
+
+    if option.takes_value():
+        opts.append(' %s' % option.metavar)
+
+    return "".join(opts)
+
+def _comma_separated_values_options_callback(option, opt_str, value, parser):
+    setattr(parser.values, option.dest, value.split(','))
+
+def _hide_login_info(opts):
+    opts = list(opts)
+    for private_opt in ['-p', '--password', '-u', '--username', '--video-password']:
+        try:
+            i = opts.index(private_opt)
+            opts[i + 1] = 'PRIVATE'
+        except ValueError:
+            pass
+    return opts
+