diff --git a/youtube-dl b/youtube-dl
index f445c4de6..b099ffd15 100755
--- a/youtube-dl
+++ b/youtube-dl
@@ -204,6 +204,7 @@ class FileDownloader(object):
 	continuedl:       Try to continue downloads if possible.
 	noprogress:       Do not print the progress bar.
 	playliststart:    Playlist item to start at.
+	playlistend:      Playlist item to end at.
 	logtostderr:      Log messages to stderr instead of stdout.
 	"""
 
@@ -1966,11 +1967,10 @@ class YoutubePlaylistIE(InfoExtractor):
 				break
 			pagenum = pagenum + 1
 
-		playliststart = self._downloader.params.get('playliststart', 1)
-		playliststart -= 1 #our arrays are zero-based but the playlist is 1-based
-		if playliststart > 0:
-			video_ids = video_ids[playliststart:]
-			
+		playliststart = self._downloader.params.get('playliststart', 1) - 1
+		playlistend = self._downloader.params.get('playlistend', -1)
+		video_ids = video_ids[playliststart:playlistend]
+
 		for id in video_ids:
 			self._youtube_ie.extract('http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=%s' % id)
 		return
@@ -2026,10 +2026,9 @@ class YoutubeUserIE(InfoExtractor):
 				ids_in_page.append(mobj.group(1))
 		video_ids.extend(ids_in_page)
 
-		playliststart = self._downloader.params.get('playliststart', 1)
-		playliststart = playliststart-1 #our arrays are zero-based but the playlist is 1-based
-		if playliststart > 0:
-			video_ids = video_ids[playliststart:]	
+		playliststart = self._downloader.params.get('playliststart', 1) - 1
+		playlistend = self._downloader.params.get('playlistend', -1)
+		video_ids = video_ids[playliststart:playlistend]
 
 		for id in video_ids:
 			self._youtube_ie.extract('http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=%s' % id)
@@ -2125,6 +2124,8 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
 				dest='retries', metavar='RETRIES', help='number of retries (default is 10)', default=10)
 		parser.add_option('--playlist-start',
 				dest='playliststart', metavar='NUMBER', help='playlist video to start at (default is 1)', default=1)
+		parser.add_option('--playlist-end',
+				dest='playlistend', metavar='NUMBER', help='playlist video to end at (default is last)', default=-1)
 
 		authentication = optparse.OptionGroup(parser, 'Authentication Options')
 		authentication.add_option('-u', '--username',
@@ -2239,11 +2240,18 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
 				opts.retries = long(opts.retries)
 			except (TypeError, ValueError), err:
 				parser.error(u'invalid retry count specified')
-		if opts.playliststart is not None:
-			try:
-				opts.playliststart = long(opts.playliststart)
-			except (TypeError, ValueError), err:
-				parser.error(u'invalid playlist page specified')
+		try:
+			opts.playliststart = long(opts.playliststart)
+			if opts.playliststart <= 0:
+				raise ValueError
+		except (TypeError, ValueError), err:
+			parser.error(u'invalid playlist start number specified')
+		try:
+			opts.playlistend = long(opts.playlistend)
+			if opts.playlistend != -1 and (opts.playlistend <= 0 or opts.playlistend < opts.playliststart):
+				raise ValueError
+		except (TypeError, ValueError), err:
+			parser.error(u'invalid playlist end number specified')
 
 		# Information extractors
 		youtube_ie = YoutubeIE()
@@ -2286,6 +2294,7 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
 			'continuedl': opts.continue_dl,
 			'noprogress': opts.noprogress,
 			'playliststart': opts.playliststart,
+			'playlistend': opts.playlistend,
 			'logtostderr': opts.outtmpl == '-',
 			})
 		fd.add_info_extractor(youtube_search_ie)