diff --git a/youtube_dl/utils.py b/youtube_dl/utils.py
index 3d508498d..6710cae54 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 (
@@ -2513,11 +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 g(s):
+    DOMAIN = 'youtube_dl'
     lang, _ = locale.getdefaultlocale()
     try:
-        t = gettext.translation('youtube_dl', 'share/locale/', [lang])
+        t = gettext.translation(DOMAIN, os.path.join(get_root_dir(), '../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)
@@ -2526,6 +2552,10 @@ def g(s):
     return ret
 
 
+def get_root_dir():
+    return os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
+
+
 class PerRequestProxyHandler(compat_urllib_request.ProxyHandler):
     def __init__(self, proxies=None):
         # Set default handlers