diff --git a/youtube_dl/downloader/__init__.py b/youtube_dl/downloader/__init__.py
index daa5498d4a..0b65aa3e2f 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/downloader/__init__.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/downloader/__init__.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 from .http import HttpFD
 from .rtmp import RtmpFD
 from .dash import DashSegmentsFD
+from .rtsp import RtspFD
 from .external import (
     get_external_downloader,
     FFmpegFD,
@@ -19,8 +20,8 @@
     'rtmp': RtmpFD,
     'm3u8_native': HlsFD,
     'm3u8': FFmpegFD,
-    'mms': FFmpegFD,
-    'rtsp': FFmpegFD,
+    'mms': RtspFD,
+    'rtsp': RtspFD,
     'f4m': F4mFD,
     'http_dash_segments': DashSegmentsFD,
 }
diff --git a/youtube_dl/downloader/rtsp.py b/youtube_dl/downloader/rtsp.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3eb29526cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/youtube_dl/downloader/rtsp.py
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
+import os
+import subprocess
+
+from .common import FileDownloader
+from ..utils import (
+    check_executable,
+    encodeFilename,
+)
+
+
+class RtspFD(FileDownloader):
+    def real_download(self, filename, info_dict):
+        url = info_dict['url']
+        self.report_destination(filename)
+        tmpfilename = self.temp_name(filename)
+
+        if check_executable('mplayer', ['-h']):
+            args = [
+                'mplayer', '-really-quiet', '-vo', 'null', '-vc', 'dummy',
+                '-dumpstream', '-dumpfile', tmpfilename, url]
+        elif check_executable('mpv', ['-h']):
+            args = [
+                'mpv', '-really-quiet', '--vo=null', '--stream-dump=' + tmpfilename, url]
+        else:
+            self.report_error('MMS or RTSP download detected but neither "mplayer" nor "mpv" could be run. Please install any.')
+            return False
+
+        retval = subprocess.call(args)
+        if retval == 0:
+            fsize = os.path.getsize(encodeFilename(tmpfilename))
+            self.to_screen('\r[%s] %s bytes' % (args[0], fsize))
+            self.try_rename(tmpfilename, filename)
+            self._hook_progress({
+                'downloaded_bytes': fsize,
+                'total_bytes': fsize,
+                'filename': filename,
+                'status': 'finished',
+            })
+            return True
+        else:
+            self.to_stderr('\n')
+            self.report_error('%s exited with code %d' % (args[0], retval))
+            return False