diff --git a/test/test_traversal.py b/test/test_traversal.py
index 52215f5a7b..f78c0db4af 100644
--- a/test/test_traversal.py
+++ b/test/test_traversal.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import http.cookies
+import dataclasses
 import re
 import xml.etree.ElementTree
 
@@ -439,6 +440,17 @@ class TestTraversal:
         assert traverse_obj(data, [..., filter]) == [True, 1, 1.1, 'str', {0: 0}, [1]], \
             '`filter` should filter falsy values'
 
+    def test_traversal_dataclass(self):
+        @dataclasses.dataclass
+        class _TestDataclass:
+            val: str
+
+        dc = _TestDataclass(val='yt-dlp')
+        assert traverse_obj(dc, 'val') == 'yt-dlp', \
+            'Dataclasses should be traversable'
+        assert traverse_obj({'dataclass': dc}, ('dataclass', 'val')) == 'yt-dlp', \
+            'Dataclasses inside other objects should be traversable'
+
 
 class TestTraversalHelpers:
     def test_traversal_require(self):
diff --git a/yt_dlp/utils/traversal.py b/yt_dlp/utils/traversal.py
index 76b51f53d1..65a94ccb9e 100644
--- a/yt_dlp/utils/traversal.py
+++ b/yt_dlp/utils/traversal.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 import collections
 import collections.abc
 import contextlib
+import dataclasses
 import functools
 import http.cookies
 import inspect
@@ -116,6 +117,9 @@ def traverse_obj(
         branching = False
         result = None
 
+        if dataclasses.is_dataclass(obj):
+            obj = dataclasses.asdict(obj)
+
         if obj is None and traverse_string:
             if key is ... or callable(key) or isinstance(key, slice):
                 branching = True