diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
index f3a2a32b43..dc601de520 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
@@ -1111,7 +1111,7 @@ class YoutubeIE(YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor, SubtitlesInfoExtractor):
                 'lang': lang,
                 'v': video_id,
                 'fmt': self._downloader.params.get('subtitlesformat'),
-                'name': l[0],
+                'name': l[0].encode('utf-8'),
             })
             url = u'http://www.youtube.com/api/timedtext?' + params
             sub_lang_list[lang] = url