diff --git a/docs/configuration.rst b/docs/configuration.rst
index 0ceca9fb538..5d5a2af38f2 100644
--- a/docs/configuration.rst
+++ b/docs/configuration.rst
@@ -1108,6 +1108,15 @@ Description Video `format selection
 =========== =====
 
 
+downloader.ytdl.forward-cookies
+-------------------------------
+=========== =====
+Type        ``bool``
+Default     ``true``
+Description Forward cookies to youtube-dl.
+=========== =====
+
+
 downloader.ytdl.logging
 -----------------------
 =========== =====
diff --git a/docs/gallery-dl.conf b/docs/gallery-dl.conf
index 2e448be4c0a..a4a9ee02f23 100644
--- a/docs/gallery-dl.conf
+++ b/docs/gallery-dl.conf
@@ -164,6 +164,7 @@
         "ytdl":
         {
             "format": null,
+            "forward-cookies": true,
             "mtime": true,
             "rate": null,
             "retries": 4,
diff --git a/gallery_dl/downloader/ytdl.py b/gallery_dl/downloader/ytdl.py
index da57935829d..a2334873b60 100644
--- a/gallery_dl/downloader/ytdl.py
+++ b/gallery_dl/downloader/ytdl.py
@@ -34,12 +34,15 @@ def __init__(self, extractor, output):
 
         if self.config("logging", True):
             options["logger"] = self.log
+        self.forward_cookies = self.config("forward-cookies", True)
 
         self.ytdl = YoutubeDL(options)
 
     def download(self, url, pathfmt):
-        for cookie in self.session.cookies:
-            self.ytdl.cookiejar.set_cookie(cookie)
+        if self.forward_cookies:
+            set_cookie = self.ytdl.cookiejar.set_cookie
+            for cookie in self.session.cookies:
+                set_cookie(cookie)
 
         try:
             info_dict = self.ytdl.extract_info(url[5:], download=False)