diff --git a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
index dda222fee..e2ec55c90 100755
--- a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
@@ -233,6 +233,7 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
                        If it returns a message, the video is ignored.
                        If it returns None, the video is downloaded.
                        match_filter_func in utils.py is one example for this.
+    no_color:          Do not emit color codes in output.
 
 
     The following parameters are not used by YoutubeDL itself, they are used by
@@ -490,7 +491,7 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
         else:
             if self.params.get('no_warnings'):
                 return
-            if self._err_file.isatty() and os.name != 'nt':
+            if not self.params.get('no_color') and self._err_file.isatty() and os.name != 'nt':
                 _msg_header = '\033[0;33mWARNING:\033[0m'
             else:
                 _msg_header = 'WARNING:'
@@ -502,7 +503,7 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
         Do the same as trouble, but prefixes the message with 'ERROR:', colored
         in red if stderr is a tty file.
         '''
-        if self._err_file.isatty() and os.name != 'nt':
+        if not self.params.get('no_color') and self._err_file.isatty() and os.name != 'nt':
             _msg_header = '\033[0;31mERROR:\033[0m'
         else:
             _msg_header = 'ERROR:'
diff --git a/youtube_dl/__init__.py b/youtube_dl/__init__.py
index eefca0fe4..ed22f169f 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/__init__.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/__init__.py
@@ -349,6 +349,7 @@ def _real_main(argv=None):
         'playlist_items': opts.playlist_items,
         'xattr_set_filesize': opts.xattr_set_filesize,
         'match_filter': match_filter,
+        'no_color': opts.no_color,
     }
 
     with YoutubeDL(ydl_opts) as ydl:
diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py
index eee936a6f..382e846c5 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py
@@ -514,7 +514,7 @@ class InfoExtractor(object):
                 if mobj:
                     break
 
-        if os.name != 'nt' and sys.stderr.isatty():
+        if not self._downloader.params.get('no_color') and os.name != 'nt' and sys.stderr.isatty():
             _name = '\033[0;34m%s\033[0m' % name
         else:
             _name = name
diff --git a/youtube_dl/options.py b/youtube_dl/options.py
index f64aa5b85..0219e6ba4 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/options.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/options.py
@@ -165,6 +165,11 @@ def parseOpts(overrideArguments=None):
         action='store_const', dest='extract_flat', const='in_playlist',
         default=False,
         help='Do not extract the videos of a playlist, only list them.')
+    general.add_option(
+        '--no-color', '--no-colors',
+        action='store_true', dest='no_color',
+        default=False,
+        help='Do not emit color codes in output.')
 
     network = optparse.OptionGroup(parser, 'Network Options')
     network.add_option(