diff --git a/test/test_utils.py b/test/test_utils.py
index 64fad58ade..5ebb8d498e 100644
--- a/test/test_utils.py
+++ b/test/test_utils.py
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ from youtube_dl.utils import (
     parse_iso8601,
     read_batch_urls,
     sanitize_filename,
+    sanitize_path,
     shell_quote,
     smuggle_url,
     str_to_int,
@@ -131,6 +132,26 @@ class TestUtil(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(sanitize_filename('_BD_eEpuzXw', is_id=True), '_BD_eEpuzXw')
         self.assertEqual(sanitize_filename('N0Y__7-UOdI', is_id=True), 'N0Y__7-UOdI')
 
+    def test_sanitize_path(self):
+        if sys.platform != 'win32':
+            return
+
+        self.assertEqual(sanitize_path('abc'), 'abc')
+        self.assertEqual(sanitize_path('abc/def'), 'abc\\def')
+        self.assertEqual(sanitize_path('abc\\def'), 'abc\\def')
+        self.assertEqual(sanitize_path('abc|def'), 'abc#def')
+        self.assertEqual(sanitize_path('<>:"|?*'), '#######')
+        self.assertEqual(sanitize_path('C:/abc/def'), 'C:\\abc\\def')
+        self.assertEqual(sanitize_path('C?:/abc/def'), 'C##\\abc\\def')
+
+        self.assertEqual(sanitize_path('\\\\?\\UNC\\ComputerName\\abc'), '\\\\?\\UNC\\ComputerName\\abc')
+        self.assertEqual(sanitize_path('\\\\?\\UNC/ComputerName/abc'), '\\\\?\\UNC\\ComputerName\\abc')
+
+        self.assertEqual(sanitize_path('\\\\?\\C:\\abc'), '\\\\?\\C:\\abc')
+        self.assertEqual(sanitize_path('\\\\?\\C:/abc'), '\\\\?\\C:\\abc')
+        self.assertEqual(sanitize_path('\\\\?\\C:\\ab?c\\de:f'), '\\\\?\\C:\\ab#c\\de#f')
+        self.assertEqual(sanitize_path('\\\\?\\C:\\abc'), '\\\\?\\C:\\abc')
+
     def test_ordered_set(self):
         self.assertEqual(orderedSet([1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 3, 5]), [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7])
         self.assertEqual(orderedSet([]), [])
diff --git a/youtube_dl/utils.py b/youtube_dl/utils.py
index 7426e2a1ff..0f49d602ea 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/utils.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/utils.py
@@ -311,6 +311,24 @@ def sanitize_filename(s, restricted=False, is_id=False):
     return result
 
 
+def sanitize_path(s):
+    """Sanitizes and normalizes path on Windows"""
+    if sys.platform != 'win32':
+        return s
+    drive, _ = os.path.splitdrive(s)
+    unc, _ = os.path.splitunc(s)
+    unc_or_drive = unc or drive
+    norm_path = os.path.normpath(remove_start(s, unc_or_drive)).split(os.path.sep)
+    if unc_or_drive:
+        norm_path.pop(0)
+    sanitized_path = [
+        re.sub('[/<>:"\\|\\\\?\\*]', '#', path_part)
+        for path_part in norm_path]
+    if unc_or_drive:
+        sanitized_path.insert(0, unc_or_drive + os.path.sep)
+    return os.path.join(*sanitized_path)
+
+
 def orderedSet(iterable):
     """ Remove all duplicates from the input iterable """
     res = []