diff --git a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
index 4e57c96873..2187dcc8f6 100755
--- a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
@@ -580,7 +580,7 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
                 is_id=(k == 'id'))
             template_dict = dict((k, sanitize(k, v))
                                  for k, v in template_dict.items()
-                                 if v is not None)
+                                 if v is not None and not isinstance(v, (list, tuple, dict)))
             template_dict = collections.defaultdict(lambda: 'NA', template_dict)
 
             outtmpl = self.params.get('outtmpl', DEFAULT_OUTTMPL)