diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4b1ada82e..1cafe51d5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -278,7 +278,7 @@ py -m bundle.py2exe
 * **`devscripts/update-version.py`** - Update the version number based on the current date.
 * **`devscripts/set-variant.py`** - Set the build variant of the executable.
 * **`devscripts/make_changelog.py`** - Create a markdown changelog using short commit messages and update `CONTRIBUTORS` file.
-* **`devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`** - Create lazy extractors. Running this before building the binaries (any variant) will improve their startup performance. Set the environment variable `YTDLP_NO_LAZY_EXTRACTORS=1` if you wish to forcefully disable lazy extractor loading.
+* **`devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py`** - Create lazy extractors. Running this before building the binaries (any variant) will improve their startup performance. Set the environment variable `YTDLP_NO_LAZY_EXTRACTORS` to something nonempty to forcefully disable lazy extractor loading.
 
 Note: See their `--help` for more info.
 
@@ -1898,6 +1898,7 @@ In other words, the file structure on the disk looks something like:
                 myplugin.py
 
 yt-dlp looks for these `yt_dlp_plugins` namespace folders in many locations (see below) and loads in plugins from **all** of them.
+Set the environment variable `YTDLP_NO_PLUGINS` to something nonempty to disable loading plugins entirely.
 
 See the [wiki for some known plugins](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Plugins)
 
diff --git a/devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py b/devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
index d74ea202f..d288d8429 100644
--- a/devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
+++ b/devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 
 # Allow direct execution
 import os
-import shutil
 import sys
 
 sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))))
@@ -34,18 +33,14 @@ MODULE_TEMPLATE = read_file('devscripts/lazy_load_template.py')
 
 
 def main():
-    lazy_extractors_filename = get_filename_args(default_outfile='yt_dlp/extractor/lazy_extractors.py')
-    if os.path.exists(lazy_extractors_filename):
-        os.remove(lazy_extractors_filename)
+    os.environ['YTDLP_NO_PLUGINS'] = 'true'
+    os.environ['YTDLP_NO_LAZY_EXTRACTORS'] = 'true'
 
-    _ALL_CLASSES = get_all_ies()  # Must be before import
+    lazy_extractors_filename = get_filename_args(default_outfile='yt_dlp/extractor/lazy_extractors.py')
 
-    import yt_dlp.plugins
+    from yt_dlp.extractor.extractors import _ALL_CLASSES
     from yt_dlp.extractor.common import InfoExtractor, SearchInfoExtractor
 
-    # Filter out plugins
-    _ALL_CLASSES = [cls for cls in _ALL_CLASSES if not cls.__module__.startswith(f'{yt_dlp.plugins.PACKAGE_NAME}.')]
-
     DummyInfoExtractor = type('InfoExtractor', (InfoExtractor,), {'IE_NAME': NO_ATTR})
     module_src = '\n'.join((
         MODULE_TEMPLATE,
@@ -58,20 +53,6 @@ def main():
     write_file(lazy_extractors_filename, f'{module_src}\n')
 
 
-def get_all_ies():
-    PLUGINS_DIRNAME = 'ytdlp_plugins'
-    BLOCKED_DIRNAME = f'{PLUGINS_DIRNAME}_blocked'
-    if os.path.exists(PLUGINS_DIRNAME):
-        # os.rename cannot be used, e.g. in Docker. See https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/pull/4958
-        shutil.move(PLUGINS_DIRNAME, BLOCKED_DIRNAME)
-    try:
-        from yt_dlp.extractor.extractors import _ALL_CLASSES
-    finally:
-        if os.path.exists(BLOCKED_DIRNAME):
-            shutil.move(BLOCKED_DIRNAME, PLUGINS_DIRNAME)
-    return _ALL_CLASSES
-
-
 def extra_ie_code(ie, base=None):
     for var in STATIC_CLASS_PROPERTIES:
         val = getattr(ie, var)
diff --git a/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py b/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py
index 9ac6ca0d0..eea106503 100644
--- a/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py
+++ b/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py
@@ -4070,6 +4070,10 @@ class YoutubeDL:
 
         write_debug(f'Proxy map: {self.proxies}')
         write_debug(f'Request Handlers: {", ".join(rh.RH_NAME for rh in self._request_director.handlers.values())}')
+        if os.environ.get('YTDLP_NO_PLUGINS'):
+            write_debug('Plugins are forcibly disabled')
+            return
+
         for plugin_type, plugins in {'Extractor': plugin_ies, 'Post-Processor': plugin_pps}.items():
             display_list = ['{}{}'.format(
                 klass.__name__, '' if klass.__name__ == name else f' as {name}')
diff --git a/yt_dlp/plugins.py b/yt_dlp/plugins.py
index 3cc879fd7..d777d14e7 100644
--- a/yt_dlp/plugins.py
+++ b/yt_dlp/plugins.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import importlib.machinery
 import importlib.util
 import inspect
 import itertools
+import os
 import pkgutil
 import sys
 import traceback
@@ -137,6 +138,8 @@ def load_module(module, module_name, suffix):
 
 def load_plugins(name, suffix):
     classes = {}
+    if os.environ.get('YTDLP_NO_PLUGINS'):
+        return classes
 
     for finder, module_name, _ in iter_modules(name):
         if any(x.startswith('_') for x in module_name.split('.')):