diff --git a/test/test_YoutubeDLCookieJar.py b/test/test_YoutubeDLCookieJar.py
index f959798de..f833efac5 100644
--- a/test/test_YoutubeDLCookieJar.py
+++ b/test/test_YoutubeDLCookieJar.py
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ from youtube_dl.utils import YoutubeDLCookieJar
 
 
 class TestYoutubeDLCookieJar(unittest.TestCase):
+    def __assert_cookie_has_value(self, cookiejar, key):
+        self.assertEqual(cookiejar._cookies['www.foobar.foobar']['/'][key].value, key + '_VALUE')
+
     def test_keep_session_cookies(self):
         cookiejar = YoutubeDLCookieJar('./test/testdata/cookies/session_cookies.txt')
         cookiejar.load(ignore_discard=True, ignore_expires=True)
@@ -32,12 +35,13 @@ class TestYoutubeDLCookieJar(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_strip_httponly_prefix(self):
         cookiejar = YoutubeDLCookieJar('./test/testdata/cookies/httponly_cookies.txt')
         cookiejar.load(ignore_discard=True, ignore_expires=True)
+        self.__assert_cookie_has_value(cookiejar, 'HTTPONLY_COOKIE')
+        self.__assert_cookie_has_value(cookiejar, 'JS_ACCESSIBLE_COOKIE')
 
-        def assert_cookie_has_value(key):
-            self.assertEqual(cookiejar._cookies['www.foobar.foobar']['/'][key].value, key + '_VALUE')
-
-        assert_cookie_has_value('HTTPONLY_COOKIE')
-        assert_cookie_has_value('JS_ACCESSIBLE_COOKIE')
+    def test_convert_spaces_to_tabs(self):
+        cookiejar = YoutubeDLCookieJar('./test/testdata/cookies/cookie_file_with_spaces.txt')
+        cookiejar.load(ignore_discard=True, ignore_expires=True)
+        self.__assert_cookie_has_value(cookiejar, 'COOKIE')
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
diff --git a/test/testdata/cookies/cookie_file_with_spaces.txt b/test/testdata/cookies/cookie_file_with_spaces.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6fda35fa0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/testdata/cookies/cookie_file_with_spaces.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# Netscape HTTP Cookie File
+# http://curl.haxx.se/rfc/cookie_spec.html
+# This is a generated file!  Do not edit.
+
+www.foobar.foobar     FALSE   /       TRUE    2147483647      COOKIE COOKIE_VALUE
diff --git a/youtube_dl/utils.py b/youtube_dl/utils.py
index 8ccf25489..93d1dec05 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/utils.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/utils.py
@@ -2752,6 +2752,11 @@ class YoutubeDLCookieJar(compat_cookiejar.MozillaCookieJar):
             for line in f:
                 if line.startswith(self._HTTPONLY_PREFIX):
                     line = line[len(self._HTTPONLY_PREFIX):]
+                # Cookie file may contain spaces instead of tabs.
+                # Replace all spaces with tabs to make such cookie files work
+                # with MozillaCookieJar.
+                if not line.startswith('#'):
+                    line = re.sub(r' +', r'\t', line)
                 cf.write(compat_str(line))
         cf.seek(0)
         self._really_load(cf, filename, ignore_discard, ignore_expires)