diff --git a/youtube_dl/__init__.py b/youtube_dl/__init__.py
index cc0a4071f..42d0a0180 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/__init__.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/__init__.py
@@ -86,6 +86,9 @@ import random
 import sys
 
 
+from .options import (
+    parseOpts,
+)
 from .utils import (
     compat_getpass,
     compat_print,
@@ -94,7 +97,6 @@ from .utils import (
     decodeOption,
     DownloadError,
     MaxDownloadsReached,
-    parseOpts,
     preferredencoding,
     read_batch_urls,
     SameFileError,
diff --git a/youtube_dl/options.py b/youtube_dl/options.py
index d8c161c9e..31baab469 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/options.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/options.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
 import os.path
 import optparse
 import shlex