diff --git a/DOCS/man/options.rst b/DOCS/man/options.rst
index 6f20a4f3f5..054058362a 100644
--- a/DOCS/man/options.rst
+++ b/DOCS/man/options.rst
@@ -531,12 +531,12 @@ Program Behavior
 
     If the script can't do anything with an URL, it will do nothing.
 
-    The `exclude` script option accepts a comma-separated list of URL patterns
+    The `exclude` script option accepts a ``|``-separated list of URL patterns
     which mpv should not use with youtube-dl. The patterns are matched after
     the ``http(s)://`` part of the URL.
 
     ``^`` matches the beginning of the URL, ``$`` matches its end, and you
-    should use ``%`` before any of the characters ``^$()%,.[]*+-?`` to match
+    should use ``%`` before any of the characters ``^$()%|,.[]*+-?`` to match
     that character.
 
     .. admonition:: Example
@@ -544,7 +544,7 @@ Program Behavior
         ``--script-opts=ytdl_hook-exclude='^youtube%.com'`` will exclude any
             URL that starts with ``http://youtube.com`` or
             ``https://youtube.com``.
-        ``--script-opts=ytdl_hook-exclude='%.mkv$,%.mp4$'`` will exclude any
+        ``--script-opts=ytdl_hook-exclude='%.mkv$|%.mp4$'`` will exclude any
             URL that ends with ``.mkv`` or ``.mp4``.
 
     See more `lua patterns here`__.
diff --git a/player/lua/ytdl_hook.lua b/player/lua/ytdl_hook.lua
index b01bf68f30..72fa58774a 100644
--- a/player/lua/ytdl_hook.lua
+++ b/player/lua/ytdl_hook.lua
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ local options = require 'mp.options'
 local o = {
     exclude = ""
 }
+options.read_options(o)
 
 local ytdl = {
     path = "youtube-dl",
@@ -100,12 +101,12 @@ local function extract_chapters(data, video_length)
 end
 
 local function is_blacklisted(url)
-    if o.blacklist == "" then return false end
+    if o.exclude == "" then return false end
     if #ytdl.blacklisted == 0 then
-        local joined = o.blacklist
-        while joined:match(',?[^,]+') do
-            local _, e, domain = joined:find(',?([^,]+)')
-            table.insert(ytdl.blacklisted, domain)
+        local joined = o.exclude
+        while joined:match('%|?[^|]+') do
+            local _, e, substring = joined:find('%|?([^|]+)')
+            table.insert(ytdl.blacklisted, substring)
             joined = joined:sub(e+1)
         end
     end
@@ -113,6 +114,7 @@ local function is_blacklisted(url)
         url = url:match('https?://(.+)')
         for _, exclude in ipairs(ytdl.blacklisted) do
             if url:match(exclude) then
+                msg.verbose('URL matches excluded substring. Skipping.')
                 return true
             end
         end