diff --git a/test/test_utils.py b/test/test_utils.py
index d0571c6f2..a8666caab 100644
--- a/test/test_utils.py
+++ b/test/test_utils.py
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@
     sanitize_filename,
     sanitize_path,
     sanitize_url,
+    sanitized_Request,
     expand_path,
     prepend_extension,
     replace_extension,
@@ -239,6 +240,15 @@ def test_sanitize_url(self):
         self.assertEqual(sanitize_url('rmtps://foo.bar'), 'rtmps://foo.bar')
         self.assertEqual(sanitize_url('https://foo.bar'), 'https://foo.bar')
 
+    def test_extract_basic_auth(self):
+        auth_header = lambda url: sanitized_Request(url).get_header('Authorization')
+        self.assertFalse(auth_header('http://foo.bar'))
+        self.assertFalse(auth_header('http://:foo.bar'))
+        self.assertEqual(auth_header('http://@foo.bar'), 'Basic Og==')
+        self.assertEqual(auth_header('http://:pass@foo.bar'), 'Basic OnBhc3M=')
+        self.assertEqual(auth_header('http://user:@foo.bar'), 'Basic dXNlcjo=')
+        self.assertEqual(auth_header('http://user:pass@foo.bar'), 'Basic dXNlcjpwYXNz')
+
     def test_expand_path(self):
         def env(var):
             return '%{0}%'.format(var) if sys.platform == 'win32' else '${0}'.format(var)
diff --git a/yt_dlp/utils.py b/yt_dlp/utils.py
index 9c9e27694..ec8f007d5 100644
--- a/yt_dlp/utils.py
+++ b/yt_dlp/utils.py
@@ -2168,8 +2168,24 @@ def sanitize_url(url):
     return escape_url(url)
 
 
+def extract_basic_auth(url):
+    parts = compat_urlparse.urlsplit(url)
+    if parts.username is None:
+        return url, None
+    url = compat_urlparse.urlunsplit(parts._replace(netloc=(
+        parts.hostname if parts.port is None
+        else '%s:%d' % (parts.hostname, parts.port))))
+    auth_payload = base64.b64encode(
+        ('%s:%s' % (parts.username, parts.password or '')).encode('utf-8'))
+    return url, 'Basic ' + auth_payload.decode('utf-8')
+
+
 def sanitized_Request(url, *args, **kwargs):
-    return compat_urllib_request.Request(sanitize_url(url), *args, **kwargs)
+    url, auth_header = extract_basic_auth(sanitize_url(url))
+    if auth_header is not None:
+        headers = args[1] if len(args) >= 2 else kwargs.setdefault('headers', {})
+        headers['Authorization'] = auth_header
+    return compat_urllib_request.Request(url, *args, **kwargs)
 
 
 def expand_path(s):