diff --git a/test/test_youtube_signature.py b/test/test_youtube_signature.py
index fcbc9d7a8..bd4f1b61f 100644
--- a/test/test_youtube_signature.py
+++ b/test/test_youtube_signature.py
@@ -265,7 +265,10 @@ def t_factory(name, sig_func, url_pattern):
         test_id = m.group('id')
 
         def test_func(self):
-            basename = 'player-{0}-{1}.js'.format(name, test_id)
+            tn = name
+            if name.endswith('_wd'):
+                tn = name[:-3]
+            basename = 'player-{0}-{1}.js'.format(tn, test_id)
             fn = os.path.join(self.TESTDATA_DIR, basename)
 
             if not os.path.exists(fn):
@@ -293,6 +296,10 @@ def n_sig(jscode, sig_input):
         funcname, sig_input, _ytdl_do_not_return=sig_input)
 
 
+def n_sig_wd(jscode, sig_input):
+    return YoutubeIE(FakeYDL())._call_n_function_with_webdriver('chrome', jscode, sig_input)
+
+
 make_sig_test = t_factory(
     'signature', signature, re.compile(r'.*(?:-|/player/)(?P<id>[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+)(?:/.+\.js|(?:/watch_as3|/html5player)?\.[a-z]+)$'))
 for test_spec in _SIG_TESTS:
@@ -303,6 +310,17 @@ make_nsig_test = t_factory(
 for test_spec in _NSIG_TESTS:
     make_nsig_test(*test_spec)
 
+test_wd = False
+for arg in sys.argv:
+    if arg == '--test_wd':
+        test_wd = True
+        break
+if test_wd:
+    sys.argv = [arg for arg in sys.argv if arg != '--test_wd']
+    make_nsig_wd_test = t_factory(
+        'nsig_wd', n_sig_wd, re.compile(r'.+/player/(?P<id>[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+)/.+.js$'))
+    for test_spec in _NSIG_TESTS:
+        make_nsig_wd_test(*test_spec)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()
diff --git a/youtube_dl/__init__.py b/youtube_dl/__init__.py
index 06bdfb689..b11faefef 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/__init__.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/__init__.py
@@ -419,6 +419,7 @@ def _real_main(argv=None):
         'call_home': opts.call_home,
         'sleep_interval': opts.sleep_interval,
         'max_sleep_interval': opts.max_sleep_interval,
+        'webdriver': opts.webdriver,
         'external_downloader': opts.external_downloader,
         'list_thumbnails': opts.list_thumbnails,
         'playlist_items': opts.playlist_items,
diff --git a/youtube_dl/compat.py b/youtube_dl/compat.py
index ed1a33cf2..b7c5c3800 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/compat.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/compat.py
@@ -2448,6 +2448,11 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     import BaseHTTPServer as compat_http_server
 
+try:
+    from urllib.parse import quote as compat_urllib_quote
+except ImportError:  # Python 2
+    from urllib import quote as compat_urllib_quote
+
 try:
     from urllib.parse import unquote_to_bytes as compat_urllib_parse_unquote_to_bytes
     from urllib.parse import unquote as compat_urllib_parse_unquote
@@ -3560,6 +3565,7 @@ __all__ = [
     'compat_tokenize_tokenize',
     'compat_urllib_error',
     'compat_urllib_parse',
+    'compat_urllib_quote',
     'compat_urllib_request',
     'compat_urllib_request_DataHandler',
     'compat_urllib_response',
diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
index 1f83acf7c..eb63e0bda 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import random
 import re
 import time
 import traceback
+import importlib
 
 from .common import InfoExtractor, SearchInfoExtractor
 from ..compat import (
@@ -21,11 +22,13 @@ from ..compat import (
     compat_urllib_parse,
     compat_urllib_parse_parse_qs as compat_parse_qs,
     compat_urllib_parse_unquote_plus,
+    compat_urllib_quote,
     compat_urllib_parse_urlparse,
     compat_zip as zip,
 )
 from ..jsinterp import JSInterpreter
 from ..utils import (
+    check_executable,
     clean_html,
     dict_get,
     error_to_compat_str,
@@ -1493,6 +1496,7 @@ class YoutubeIE(YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor):
         super(YoutubeIE, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
         self._code_cache = {}
         self._player_cache = {}
+        self._webdriver_wrapper = None
 
     # *ytcfgs, webpage=None
     def _extract_player_url(self, *ytcfgs, **kw_webpage):
@@ -1669,6 +1673,22 @@ class YoutubeIE(YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor):
         if player_url is None:
             raise ExtractorError('Cannot decrypt nsig without player_url')
 
+        webdriver_type = self._downloader.params.get('webdriver', None)
+        if webdriver_type is not None:
+            try:
+                jscode = self._load_player(video_id, player_url)
+                ret = self._call_n_function_with_webdriver(webdriver_type, jscode, n)
+            except Exception as e:
+                self.report_warning(
+                    '%s (%s %s)' % (
+                        'Unable to decode n-parameter: download likely to be throttled',
+                        error_to_compat_str(e),
+                        traceback.format_exc()),
+                    video_id=video_id)
+                return
+            self.write_debug('Decrypted nsig(with webdriver) {0} => {1}'.format(n, ret))
+            return ret
+
         try:
             jsi, player_id, func_code = self._extract_n_function_code(video_id, player_url)
         except ExtractorError as e:
@@ -1692,6 +1712,27 @@ class YoutubeIE(YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor):
         self.write_debug('Decrypted nsig {0} => {1}'.format(n, ret))
         return ret
 
+    def _call_n_function_with_webdriver(self, webdriver_type, jscode, n_param):
+        if self._webdriver_wrapper is None:
+            self._webdriver_wrapper = WebDriverJSWrapper(webdriver_type)
+        self._webdriver_wrapper.get('about:blank')
+        funcname = self._extract_n_function_name(jscode)
+        alphabet = 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'
+        dummyfunc = ''.join(random.choice(alphabet) for _ in range(8))
+        f = ('return ((e) => {{'
+             'const d = decodeURIComponent(e);'
+             'const p = d.lastIndexOf("}}");'
+             'const th = d.substring(0, p);'
+             'const bh = d.substring(p);'
+             'const m = "var {0};" + th + ";{0} = {1};" + bh;'
+             'const s = document.createElement("script");'
+             's.innerHTML = m;'
+             'document.body.append(s);'
+             'return {0}("{2}");'
+             '}})("{3}");').format(dummyfunc, funcname, n_param, compat_urllib_quote(jscode))
+        n = self._webdriver_wrapper.executeJS(f)
+        return n
+
     def _extract_n_function_name(self, jscode):
         func_name, idx = self._search_regex(
             # (y=NuD(),Mw(k),q=k.Z[y]||null)&&(q=narray[idx](q),k.set(y,q),k.V||NuD(''))}};
@@ -3916,3 +3957,75 @@ class YoutubeTruncatedIDIE(InfoExtractor):
         raise ExtractorError(
             'Incomplete YouTube ID %s. URL %s looks truncated.' % (video_id, url),
             expected=True)
+
+
+class WebDriverJSWrapper(object):
+    """WebDriver Wrapper class"""
+
+    def __init__(self, webdriver_type, pageload_timeout=10, script_timeout=5):
+        self._webdriver = None
+        try:
+            wd = importlib.import_module('selenium.webdriver')
+        except ImportError as e:
+            self._raise_exception('Failed to import module "selenium.webdriver"', cause=e)
+
+        if webdriver_type == 'firefox':  # geckodriver
+            if not check_executable('geckodriver', ['--version']):
+                self._raise_exception('geckodriver not found in PATH')
+            o = wd.FirefoxOptions()
+            o.headless = True
+            s = wd.firefox.service.Service(log_path=os.path.devnull)
+            self._webdriver = wd.Firefox(options=o, service=s)
+        elif webdriver_type == 'chrome':  # chromedriver
+            if not check_executable('chromedriver', ['--version']):
+                self._raise_exception('chromedriver not found in PATH')
+            o = wd.ChromeOptions()
+            o.headless = True
+            """
+            If you are using the snap version of the chromium, chromedriver is included in the snap package.
+            You should use that driver.
+            $ cd /snap/bin && sudo ln -s -T chromium.chromedriver chromedriver
+            or
+            s = wd.chrome.service.Service(executable_path='chromium.chromedriver')
+            self._webdriver = wd.Chrome(options=o, service=s)
+            """
+            self._webdriver = wd.Chrome(options=o)
+        elif webdriver_type == 'edge':  # msedgedriver
+            if not check_executable('msedgedriver', ['--version']):
+                self._raise_exception('msedgedriver not found in PATH')
+            o = wd.EdgeOptions()
+            o.headless = True
+            self._webdriver = wd.Edge(options=o)
+        elif webdriver_type == 'safari':  # safaridriver
+            if not check_executable('safaridriver', ['--version']):
+                self._raise_exception('safaridriver not found in PATH')
+            """
+            safaridriver does not have headless-mode. :(
+            But macOS includes safaridriver by default.
+            To enable automation on safaridriver, run the following command once from the admin terminal.
+            # safaridriver --enable
+            """
+            self._webdriver = wd.Safari()
+        else:
+            self._raise_exception('unsupported type: %s' % (webdriver_type))
+        self._webdriver.set_page_load_timeout(pageload_timeout)
+        self._webdriver.set_script_timeout(script_timeout)
+
+    def __del__(self):
+        if self._webdriver is not None:
+            self._webdriver.quit()
+
+    def _raise_exception(self, msg, cause=None):
+        raise ExtractorError('[WebDriverJSWrapper] %s' % (msg), cause=cause)
+
+    def get(self, url):
+        """Loads a web page in the current browser session"""
+        self._webdriver.get(url)
+
+    def executeJS(self, jscode):
+        """Execute JS and return value"""
+        try:
+            ret = self._webdriver.execute_script(jscode)
+        except Exception as e:
+            self._raise_exception('Failed to execute JS', cause=e)
+        return ret
diff --git a/youtube_dl/options.py b/youtube_dl/options.py
index 61705d1f0..325e1fdbf 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/options.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/options.py
@@ -576,6 +576,9 @@ def parseOpts(overrideArguments=None):
             'Upper bound of a range for randomized sleep before each download '
             '(maximum possible number of seconds to sleep). Must only be used '
             'along with --min-sleep-interval.'))
+    workarounds.add_option(
+        '--webdriver', metavar='TYPE', dest='webdriver', default=None,
+        help='Specify webdriver type when you want to use Selenium to execute YouTube\'s "n_function" in order to avoid throttling: "firefox", "chrome", "edge", or "safari"')
 
     verbosity = optparse.OptionGroup(parser, 'Verbosity / Simulation Options')
     verbosity.add_option(