diff --git a/test/test_utils.py b/test/test_utils.py
index 8d8997977..e90caed29 100644
--- a/test/test_utils.py
+++ b/test/test_utils.py
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ from youtube_dl.utils import (
     parse_iso8601,
     strip_jsonp,
     uppercase_escape,
+    escape_rfc3986,
+    escape_url,
 )
 
 
@@ -286,5 +288,34 @@ class TestUtil(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(uppercase_escape('aä'), 'aä')
         self.assertEqual(uppercase_escape('\\U0001d550'), '𝕐')
 
+    def test_escape_rfc3986(self):
+        reserved = "!*'();:@&=+$,/?#[]"
+        unreserved = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789-_.~'
+        self.assertEqual(escape_rfc3986(reserved), reserved)
+        self.assertEqual(escape_rfc3986(unreserved), unreserved)
+        self.assertEqual(escape_rfc3986('тест'), '%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82')
+        self.assertEqual(escape_rfc3986('%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82'), '%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82')
+        self.assertEqual(escape_rfc3986('foo bar'), 'foo%20bar')
+        self.assertEqual(escape_rfc3986('foo%20bar'), 'foo%20bar')
+
+    def test_escape_url(self):
+        self.assertEqual(
+            escape_url('http://wowza.imust.org/srv/vod/telemb/new/UPLOAD/UPLOAD/20224_IncendieHavré_FD.mp4'),
+            'http://wowza.imust.org/srv/vod/telemb/new/UPLOAD/UPLOAD/20224_IncendieHavre%CC%81_FD.mp4'
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(
+            escape_url('http://www.ardmediathek.de/tv/Sturm-der-Liebe/Folge-2036-Zu-Mann-und-Frau-erklärt/Das-Erste/Video?documentId=22673108&bcastId=5290'),
+            'http://www.ardmediathek.de/tv/Sturm-der-Liebe/Folge-2036-Zu-Mann-und-Frau-erkl%C3%A4rt/Das-Erste/Video?documentId=22673108&bcastId=5290'
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(
+            escape_url('http://тест.рф/фрагмент'),
+            'http://тест.рф/%D1%84%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82'
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(
+            escape_url('http://тест.рф/абв?абв=абв#абв'),
+            'http://тест.рф/%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B2?%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B2=%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B2#%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B2'
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(escape_url('http://vimeo.com/56015672#at=0'), 'http://vimeo.com/56015672#at=0')
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()
diff --git a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
index 99cd05e65..9519594c9 100755
--- a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ from .utils import (
     compat_str,
     compat_urllib_error,
     compat_urllib_request,
-    compat_urllib_parse_urlparse,
+    escape_url,
     ContentTooShortError,
     date_from_str,
     DateRange,
@@ -1243,20 +1243,14 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
     def urlopen(self, req):
         """ Start an HTTP download """
 
+        # According to RFC 3986, URLs can not contain non-ASCII characters, however this is not
+        # always respected by websites, some tend to give out URLs with non percent-encoded
+        # non-ASCII characters (see telemb.py, ard.py [#3412])
         # urllib chokes on URLs with non-ASCII characters (see http://bugs.python.org/issue3991)
-        # Working around by replacing request's original URL with escaped one
-
+        # To work around aforementioned issue we will replace request's original URL with
+        # percent-encoded one
         url = req if isinstance(req, compat_str) else req.get_full_url()
-
-        def escape(component):
-            return compat_cookiejar.escape_path(component.encode('utf-8'))
-
-        url_parsed = compat_urllib_parse_urlparse(url)
-        url_escaped = url_parsed._replace(
-            path=escape(url_parsed.path),
-            query=escape(url_parsed.query),
-            fragment=escape(url_parsed.fragment)
-        ).geturl()
+        url_escaped = escape_url(url)
 
         # Substitute URL if any change after escaping
         if url != url_escaped:
diff --git a/youtube_dl/utils.py b/youtube_dl/utils.py
index d920c65a4..9124c3621 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/utils.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/utils.py
@@ -1418,6 +1418,24 @@ def uppercase_escape(s):
         lambda m: unicode_escape(m.group(0))[0],
         s)
 
+
+def escape_rfc3986(s):
+    """Escape non-ASCII characters as suggested by RFC 3986"""
+    if sys.version_info < (3, 0) and isinstance(s, unicode):
+        s = s.encode('utf-8')
+    return compat_urllib_parse.quote(s, "%/;:@&=+$,!~*'()?#[]") #"%/;:@&=+$,!~*'()?#[]+"   #?#[]+
+
+
+def escape_url(url):
+    """Escape URL as suggested by RFC 3986"""
+    url_parsed = compat_urllib_parse_urlparse(url)
+    return url_parsed._replace(
+        path=escape_rfc3986(url_parsed.path),
+        params=escape_rfc3986(url_parsed.params),
+        query=escape_rfc3986(url_parsed.query),
+        fragment=escape_rfc3986(url_parsed.fragment)
+    ).geturl()
+
 try:
     struct.pack(u'!I', 0)
 except TypeError: