diff --git a/test/test_subtitles.py b/test/test_subtitles.py
index 84ae0e714..91cebce28 100644
--- a/test/test_subtitles.py
+++ b/test/test_subtitles.py
@@ -50,11 +50,6 @@ class TestYoutubeSubtitles(BaseTestSubtitles):
     url = 'QRS8MkLhQmM'
     IE = YoutubeIE
 
-    def test_youtube_no_writesubtitles(self):
-        self.DL.params['writesubtitles'] = False
-        subtitles = self.getSubtitles()
-        self.assertEqual(subtitles, None)
-
     def test_youtube_subtitles(self):
         self.DL.params['writesubtitles'] = True
         subtitles = self.getSubtitles()
diff --git a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
index 8545dc9e9..a47f8f5de 100755
--- a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
@@ -1020,9 +1020,13 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
             info_dict['upload_date'] = upload_date.strftime('%Y%m%d')
 
         if self.params.get('listsubtitles', False):
-            self.list_subtitles(info_dict['id'], info_dict.get('subtitles'))
+            if 'automatic_captions' in info_dict:
+                self.list_subtitles(info_dict['id'], info_dict.get('automatic_captions'), 'automatic captions')
+            self.list_subtitles(info_dict['id'], info_dict.get('subtitles'), 'subtitles')
             return
-        info_dict['requested_subtitles'] = self.process_subtitles(info_dict['id'], info_dict.get('subtitles'))
+        info_dict['requested_subtitles'] = self.process_subtitles(
+            info_dict['id'], info_dict.get('subtitles'),
+            info_dict.get('automatic_captions'))
 
         # This extractors handle format selection themselves
         if info_dict['extractor'] in ['Youku']:
@@ -1152,8 +1156,14 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
         info_dict.update(formats_to_download[-1])
         return info_dict
 
-    def process_subtitles(self, video_id, available_subs):
+    def process_subtitles(self, video_id, available_subs, available_autocaps):
         """Select the requested subtitles and their format"""
+        if available_autocaps and self.params.get('writeautomaticsub'):
+            available_subs = available_subs.copy()
+            for lang, cap_info in available_autocaps.items():
+                if lang not in available_subs:
+                    available_subs[lang] = cap_info
+
         if not available_subs:
             return available_subs
 
@@ -1645,17 +1655,17 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
             ['ID', 'width', 'height', 'URL'],
             [[t['id'], t.get('width', 'unknown'), t.get('height', 'unknown'), t['url']] for t in thumbnails]))
 
-    def list_subtitles(self, video_id, subtitles):
+    def list_subtitles(self, video_id, subtitles, name='subtitles'):
         if not subtitles:
-            self.to_screen('%s has no subtitles' % video_id)
+            self.to_screen('%s has no %s' % (video_id, name))
             return
         header_line = 'Language    formats'
         sub_lines = [
             '%-12s%s' % (lang, ', '.join(f['ext'] for f in reversed(formats)))
             for lang, formats in subtitles.items()]
         self.to_screen(
-            'Available subtitles for %s:\n%s\n%s' %
-            (video_id, header_line, '\n'.join(sub_lines)))
+            'Available %s for %s:\n%s\n%s' %
+            (name, video_id, header_line, '\n'.join(sub_lines)))
 
     def urlopen(self, req):
         """ Start an HTTP download """
diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py
index d149e0f92..fe7d8dbc9 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py
@@ -157,6 +157,8 @@ class InfoExtractor(object):
                     with the "ext" entry and one of:
                         * "data": The subtitles file contents
                         * "url": A url pointing to the subtitles file
+    automatic_captions: Like 'subtitles', used by the YoutubeIE for
+                    automatically generated captions
     duration:       Length of the video in seconds, as an integer.
     view_count:     How many users have watched the video on the platform.
     like_count:     Number of positive ratings of the video
@@ -1007,6 +1009,16 @@ class InfoExtractor(object):
     def _get_subtitles(self, *args, **kwargs):
         raise NotImplementedError("This method must be implemented by subclasses")
 
+    def extract_automatic_captions(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        automatic_captions = {}
+        list_subtitles = self._downloader.params.get('listsubtitles')
+        if self._downloader.params.get('writeautomaticsub', False) or list_subtitles:
+            automatic_captions.update(self._get_automatic_captions(*args, **kwargs))
+        return automatic_captions
+
+    def _get_automatic_captions(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        raise NotImplementedError("This method must be implemented by subclasses")
+
 
 class SearchInfoExtractor(InfoExtractor):
     """
diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
index 35ef4c303..1b2dbf276 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ import time
 import traceback
 
 from .common import InfoExtractor, SearchInfoExtractor
-from .subtitles import SubtitlesInfoExtractor
 from ..jsinterp import JSInterpreter
 from ..swfinterp import SWFInterpreter
 from ..compat import (
@@ -185,7 +184,7 @@ class YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor(InfoExtractor):
             return
 
 
-class YoutubeIE(YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor, SubtitlesInfoExtractor):
+class YoutubeIE(YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor):
     IE_DESC = 'YouTube.com'
     _VALID_URL = r"""(?x)^
                      (
@@ -644,7 +643,7 @@ class YoutubeIE(YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor, SubtitlesInfoExtractor):
             raise ExtractorError(
                 'Signature extraction failed: ' + tb, cause=e)
 
-    def _get_available_subtitles(self, video_id, webpage):
+    def _get_subtitles(self, video_id, webpage):
         try:
             subs_doc = self._download_xml(
                 'https://video.google.com/timedtext?hl=en&type=list&v=%s' % video_id,
@@ -658,23 +657,27 @@ class YoutubeIE(YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor, SubtitlesInfoExtractor):
             lang = track.attrib['lang_code']
             if lang in sub_lang_list:
                 continue
-            params = compat_urllib_parse.urlencode({
-                'lang': lang,
-                'v': video_id,
-                'fmt': self._downloader.params.get('subtitlesformat', 'srt'),
-                'name': track.attrib['name'].encode('utf-8'),
-            })
-            url = 'https://www.youtube.com/api/timedtext?' + params
-            sub_lang_list[lang] = url
+            sub_formats = []
+            for ext in ['sbv', 'vtt', 'srt']:
+                params = compat_urllib_parse.urlencode({
+                    'lang': lang,
+                    'v': video_id,
+                    'fmt': ext,
+                    'name': track.attrib['name'].encode('utf-8'),
+                })
+                sub_formats.append({
+                    'url': 'https://www.youtube.com/api/timedtext?' + params,
+                    'ext': ext,
+                })
+            sub_lang_list[lang] = sub_formats
         if not sub_lang_list:
             self._downloader.report_warning('video doesn\'t have subtitles')
             return {}
         return sub_lang_list
 
-    def _get_available_automatic_caption(self, video_id, webpage):
+    def _get_automatic_captions(self, video_id, webpage):
         """We need the webpage for getting the captions url, pass it as an
            argument to speed up the process."""
-        sub_format = self._downloader.params.get('subtitlesformat', 'srt')
         self.to_screen('%s: Looking for automatic captions' % video_id)
         mobj = re.search(r';ytplayer.config = ({.*?});', webpage)
         err_msg = 'Couldn\'t find automatic captions for %s' % video_id
@@ -704,14 +707,20 @@ class YoutubeIE(YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor, SubtitlesInfoExtractor):
             sub_lang_list = {}
             for lang_node in caption_list.findall('target'):
                 sub_lang = lang_node.attrib['lang_code']
-                params = compat_urllib_parse.urlencode({
-                    'lang': original_lang,
-                    'tlang': sub_lang,
-                    'fmt': sub_format,
-                    'ts': timestamp,
-                    'kind': caption_kind,
-                })
-                sub_lang_list[sub_lang] = caption_url + '&' + params
+                sub_formats = []
+                for ext in ['sbv', 'vtt', 'srt']:
+                    params = compat_urllib_parse.urlencode({
+                        'lang': original_lang,
+                        'tlang': sub_lang,
+                        'fmt': ext,
+                        'ts': timestamp,
+                        'kind': caption_kind,
+                    })
+                    sub_formats.append({
+                        'url': caption_url + '&' + params,
+                        'ext': ext,
+                    })
+                sub_lang_list[sub_lang] = sub_formats
             return sub_lang_list
         # An extractor error can be raise by the download process if there are
         # no automatic captions but there are subtitles
@@ -966,10 +975,7 @@ class YoutubeIE(YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor, SubtitlesInfoExtractor):
 
         # subtitles
         video_subtitles = self.extract_subtitles(video_id, video_webpage)
-
-        if self._downloader.params.get('listsubtitles', False):
-            self._list_available_subtitles(video_id, video_webpage)
-            return
+        automatic_captions = self.extract_automatic_captions(video_id, video_webpage)
 
         if 'length_seconds' not in video_info:
             self._downloader.report_warning('unable to extract video duration')
@@ -1118,6 +1124,7 @@ class YoutubeIE(YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor, SubtitlesInfoExtractor):
             'description': video_description,
             'categories': video_categories,
             'subtitles': video_subtitles,
+            'automatic_captions': automatic_captions,
             'duration': video_duration,
             'age_limit': 18 if age_gate else 0,
             'annotations': video_annotations,