diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py
index f01fa2cde..cebb8717f 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ from .kickstarter import KickStarterIE
 from .keek import KeekIE
 from .liveleak import LiveLeakIE
 from .livestream import LivestreamIE, LivestreamOriginalIE
+from .mdr import MDRIE
 from .metacafe import MetacafeIE
 from .metacritic import MetacriticIE
 from .mit import TechTVMITIE, MITIE
diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/mdr.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/mdr.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8b096a78a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/mdr.py
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+import re
+
+from .common import InfoExtractor
+from ..utils import (
+    ExtractorError,
+)
+
+class MDRIE(InfoExtractor):
+    _VALID_URL = r'^(?P<domain>(?:https?://)?(?:www\.)?mdr\.de)/mediathek/(?:.*)/(?P<type>video|audio)(?P<video_id>[^/_]+)_.*'
+    _TITLE = r'<h2>(?P<title1>[^<]+)<span>(?P<title2>[^<]+)</span></h2>'
+
+    _MEDIA_XML = r'(?P<xmlurl>/mediathek/(.+)/(video|audio)([0-9]+)-avCustom.xml)'
+    _MEDIA_STREAM_VIDEO = r'<asset>.*<frameWidth>(?P<frameWidth>[0-9]+)</frameWidth>.*<flashMediaServerApplicationURL>(?P<flashMediaServerApplicationURL>[^<]+)</flashMediaServerApplicationURL><flashMediaServerURL>(?P<flashMediaServerURL>[^<]+)</flashMediaServerURL>.*<progressiveDownloadUrl>(?P<progressiveDownloadUrl>[^<]+)</progressiveDownloadUrl></asset>'
+    _MEDIA_STREAM_AUDIO = r'<asset>.*<mediaType>(?P<mediaType>[A-Z0-9]+)</mediaType><bitrateAudio>(?P<bitrateAudio>[0-9]+)</bitrateAudio>.*<flashMediaServerApplicationURL>(?P<flashMediaServerApplicationURL>[^<]+)</flashMediaServerApplicationURL><flashMediaServerURL>(?P<flashMediaServerURL>[^<]+)</flashMediaServerURL>.*<progressiveDownloadUrl>(?P<progressiveDownloadUrl>[^<]+)</progressiveDownloadUrl></asset>'
+    _TESTS = [{
+        u'url': u'http://www.mdr.de/mediathek/themen/nachrichten/video165624_zc-c5c7de76_zs-3795826d.html',
+        u'file': u'165624.mp4',
+        u'md5': u'95165945756198b8fa2dea10f0b04614',
+        u'info_dict': {
+            u"title": u"MDR aktuell Eins30 09.12.2013, 22:48 Uhr"
+        },
+        #u'skip': u'Requires rtmpdump'    # rtmp is optional
+    },
+    {
+        u'url': u' http://www.mdr.de/mediathek/radio/mdr1-radio-sachsen/audio718370_zc-67b21197_zs-1b9b2483.html',
+        u'file': u'718370.mp4',
+        u'md5': u'4a5b1fbb5519fb0d929c384b6ff7cb8b',
+        u'info_dict': {
+            u"title": u"MDR 1 RADIO SACHSEN 10.12.2013, 05:00 Uhr"
+        },
+        #u'skip': u'Requires rtmpdump'    # rtmp is optional
+    }]
+
+    def _real_extract(self, url):
+
+        # determine video id from url
+        m = re.match(self._VALID_URL, url)
+        video_id = m.group('video_id')
+        domain = m.group('domain')
+        mediatype = m.group('type')
+
+        # determine title and media streams from webpage
+        html = self._download_webpage(url, video_id)
+        t = re.search(self._TITLE, html)
+        if not t:
+            raise ExtractorError(u'no title found')
+        title = t.group('title1') + t.group('title2')
+        m = re.search(self._MEDIA_XML, html)
+        if not m:
+            raise ExtractorError(u'no xml found')
+        xmlurl = m.group('xmlurl')
+        xml = self._download_webpage(domain+xmlurl, video_id, 'download XML').replace('\n','').replace('\r','').replace('<asset>','\n<asset>').replace('</asset>','</asset>\n')
+        if(mediatype == "video"):
+            streams = [mo.groupdict() for mo in re.finditer(self._MEDIA_STREAM_VIDEO, xml)]
+            if not streams:
+                raise ExtractorError(u'no media found')
+            # choose default media type and highest quality for now
+            stream = max([s for s in streams if s["progressiveDownloadUrl"].startswith("http://") ],
+                         key=lambda s: int(s["frameWidth"]))
+        else:
+            streams = [mo.groupdict() for mo in re.finditer(self._MEDIA_STREAM_AUDIO, xml)]
+            if not streams:
+                raise ExtractorError(u'no media found')
+            # choose default media type (MP4) and highest quality for now
+            stream = max([s for s in streams if s["progressiveDownloadUrl"].startswith("http://") and s["mediaType"] == "MP4" ],
+                         key=lambda s: int(s["bitrateAudio"]))
+
+        # there's two possibilities: RTMP stream or HTTP download
+        info = {'id': video_id, 'title': title, 'ext': 'mp4'}
+        if not stream["progressiveDownloadUrl"]:
+            self.to_screen(u'RTMP download detected')
+            assert stream['flashMediaServerURL'].startswith('mp4:')
+            info["url"] = stream["flashMediaServerApplicationURL"]
+            info["play_path"] = stream['flashMediaServerURL']
+        else:
+            assert stream["progressiveDownloadUrl"].endswith('.mp4')
+            info["url"] = stream["progressiveDownloadUrl"]
+        return [info]