diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9ce85d6319..3e8484314f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1797,8 +1797,8 @@ The following extractors use this feature:
 * `approximate_date`: Extract approximate `upload_date` and `timestamp` in flat-playlist. This may cause date-based filters to be slightly off
 
 #### generic
-* `fragment_query`: Passthrough any query in mpd/m3u8 manifest URLs to their fragments. Does not apply to ffmpeg
-* `variant_query`: Passthrough the master m3u8 URL query to its variant playlist URLs
+* `fragment_query`: Passthrough any query in mpd/m3u8 manifest URLs to their fragments if no value is provided, or else apply the query string given as `fragment_query=VALUE`. Does not apply to ffmpeg
+* `variant_query`: Passthrough the master m3u8 URL query to its variant playlist URLs if no value is provided, or else apply the query string given as `variant_query=VALUE`
 * `hls_key`: An HLS AES-128 key URI *or* key (as hex), and optionally the IV (as hex), in the form of `(URI|KEY)[,IV]`; e.g. `generic:hls_key=ABCDEF1234567980,0xFEDCBA0987654321`. Passing any of these values will force usage of the native HLS downloader and override the corresponding values found in the m3u8 playlist
 
 #### funimation
diff --git a/yt_dlp/extractor/generic.py b/yt_dlp/extractor/generic.py
index 075bb36ded..f9fa01feb8 100644
--- a/yt_dlp/extractor/generic.py
+++ b/yt_dlp/extractor/generic.py
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ from ..utils import (
     mimetype2ext,
     orderedSet,
     parse_duration,
-    parse_qs,
     parse_resolution,
     smuggle_url,
     str_or_none,
@@ -2187,18 +2186,23 @@ class GenericIE(InfoExtractor):
         self._downloader.write_debug(f'Identified {num} {name}{format_field(note, None, "; %s")}')
 
     def _extra_manifest_info(self, info, manifest_url):
-        if self._configuration_arg('fragment_query'):
-            query_string = urllib.parse.urlparse(manifest_url).query
-            if query_string:
-                info['extra_param_to_segment_url'] = query_string
+        fragment_query = self._configuration_arg('fragment_query', [None], casesense=True)[0]
+        if fragment_query is not None:
+            fragment_query = self._configuration_arg('fragment_query', casesense=True)[0]
+            info['extra_param_to_segment_url'] = (
+                urllib.parse.urlparse(fragment_query).query or fragment_query
+                or urllib.parse.urlparse(manifest_url).query or None)
 
         hex_or_none = lambda x: x if re.fullmatch(r'(0x)?[\da-f]+', x, re.IGNORECASE) else None
-        info['hls_aes'] = traverse_obj(self._configuration_arg('hls_key'), {
+        info['hls_aes'] = traverse_obj(self._configuration_arg('hls_key', casesense=True), {
             'uri': (0, {url_or_none}), 'key': (0, {hex_or_none}), 'iv': (1, {hex_or_none}),
         }) or None
 
-        if self._configuration_arg('variant_query'):
-            query = parse_qs(manifest_url)
+        variant_query = self._configuration_arg('variant_query', [None], casesense=True)[0]
+        if variant_query is not None:
+            query = urllib.parse.parse_qs(
+                urllib.parse.urlparse(variant_query).query or variant_query
+                or urllib.parse.urlparse(manifest_url).query)
             for fmt in self._downloader._get_formats(info):
                 fmt['url'] = update_url_query(fmt['url'], query)