diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py
index 9a5a7cc2c..c2aa3a749 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py
@@ -870,13 +870,18 @@ class InfoExtractor(object):
         time.sleep(timeout)
 
     def _extract_f4m_formats(self, manifest_url, video_id, preference=None, f4m_id=None,
-                             transform_source=lambda s: fix_xml_ampersands(s).strip()):
+                             transform_source=lambda s: fix_xml_ampersands(s).strip(),
+                             fatal=True):
         manifest = self._download_xml(
             manifest_url, video_id, 'Downloading f4m manifest',
             'Unable to download f4m manifest',
             # Some manifests may be malformed, e.g. prosiebensat1 generated manifests
             # (see https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues/6215#issuecomment-121704244)
-            transform_source=transform_source)
+            transform_source=transform_source,
+            fatal=fatal)
+
+        if manifest is False:
+            return manifest
 
         formats = []
         manifest_version = '1.0'
@@ -897,7 +902,10 @@ class InfoExtractor(object):
                 # may differ leading to inability to resolve the format by requested
                 # bitrate in f4m downloader
                 if determine_ext(manifest_url) == 'f4m':
-                    formats.extend(self._extract_f4m_formats(manifest_url, video_id, preference, f4m_id))
+                    f4m_formats = self._extract_f4m_formats(
+                        manifest_url, video_id, preference, f4m_id, fatal=fatal)
+                    if f4m_formats:
+                        formats.extend(f4m_formats)
                     continue
             tbr = int_or_none(media_el.attrib.get('bitrate'))
             formats.append({