diff --git a/test/test_cache.py b/test/test_cache.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dbefad109e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_cache.py
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+# coding: utf-8
+
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
+import shutil
+
+# Allow direct execution
+import os
+import sys
+import unittest
+sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))))
+
+
+from test.helper import FakeYDL
+from youtube_dl.cache import Cache
+
+
+def _is_empty(d):
+    return not bool(os.listdir(d))
+
+
+def _mkdir(d):
+    if not os.path.exists(d):
+        os.mkdir(d)
+
+
+class TestCache(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        TEST_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
+        TESTDATA_DIR = os.path.join(TEST_DIR, 'testdata')
+        _mkdir(TESTDATA_DIR)
+        self.test_dir = os.path.join(TESTDATA_DIR, 'cache_test')
+        self.tearDown()
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        if os.path.exists(self.test_dir):
+            shutil.rmtree(self.test_dir)
+
+    def test_cache(self):
+        ydl = FakeYDL({
+            'cachedir': self.test_dir,
+        })
+        c = Cache(ydl)
+        obj = {'x': 1, 'y': ['ä', '\\a', True]}
+        self.assertEqual(c.load('test_cache', 'k'), None)
+        c.store('test_cache', 'k', obj)
+        self.assertEqual(c.load('test_cache', 'k2'), None)
+        self.assertFalse(_is_empty(self.test_dir))
+        self.assertEqual(c.load('test_cache', 'k'), obj)
+        self.assertEqual(c.load('test_cache', 'y'), None)
+        self.assertEqual(c.load('test_cache2', 'k'), None)
+        c.remove()
+        self.assertFalse(os.path.exists(self.test_dir))
+        self.assertEqual(c.load('test_cache', 'k'), None)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    unittest.main()
diff --git a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
index 98639e004c..553bf559b3 100755
--- a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ from .utils import (
     YoutubeDLHandler,
     prepend_extension,
 )
+from .cache import Cache
 from .extractor import get_info_extractor, gen_extractors
 from .downloader import get_suitable_downloader
 from .postprocessor import FFmpegMergerPP
@@ -133,7 +134,7 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
     daterange:         A DateRange object, download only if the upload_date is in the range.
     skip_download:     Skip the actual download of the video file
     cachedir:          Location of the cache files in the filesystem.
-                       None to disable filesystem cache.
+                       False to disable filesystem cache.
     noplaylist:        Download single video instead of a playlist if in doubt.
     age_limit:         An integer representing the user's age in years.
                        Unsuitable videos for the given age are skipped.
@@ -195,6 +196,7 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
         self._screen_file = [sys.stdout, sys.stderr][params.get('logtostderr', False)]
         self._err_file = sys.stderr
         self.params = params
+        self.cache = Cache(self)
 
         if params.get('bidi_workaround', False):
             try:
diff --git a/youtube_dl/__init__.py b/youtube_dl/__init__.py
index bf616e3b60..6b5187fb61 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/__init__.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/__init__.py
@@ -84,7 +84,6 @@ import optparse
 import os
 import random
 import shlex
-import shutil
 import sys
 
 
@@ -96,7 +95,6 @@ from .utils import (
     decodeOption,
     get_term_width,
     DownloadError,
-    get_cachedir,
     MaxDownloadsReached,
     preferredencoding,
     read_batch_urls,
@@ -518,10 +516,10 @@ def parseOpts(overrideArguments=None):
     filesystem.add_option('--cookies',
             dest='cookiefile', metavar='FILE', help='file to read cookies from and dump cookie jar in')
     filesystem.add_option(
-        '--cache-dir', dest='cachedir', default=get_cachedir(), metavar='DIR',
+        '--cache-dir', dest='cachedir', default=None, metavar='DIR',
         help='Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl can store some downloaded information permanently. By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME/youtube-dl or ~/.cache/youtube-dl . At the moment, only YouTube player files (for videos with obfuscated signatures) are cached, but that may change.')
     filesystem.add_option(
-        '--no-cache-dir', action='store_const', const=None, dest='cachedir',
+        '--no-cache-dir', action='store_const', const=False, dest='cachedir',
         help='Disable filesystem caching')
     filesystem.add_option(
         '--rm-cache-dir', action='store_true', dest='rm_cachedir',
@@ -872,20 +870,7 @@ def _real_main(argv=None):
 
         # Remove cache dir
         if opts.rm_cachedir:
-            if opts.cachedir is None:
-                ydl.to_screen(u'No cache dir specified (Did you combine --no-cache-dir and --rm-cache-dir?)')
-            else:
-                if ('.cache' not in opts.cachedir) or ('youtube-dl' not in opts.cachedir):
-                    ydl.to_screen(u'Not removing directory %s - this does not look like a cache dir' % opts.cachedir)
-                    retcode = 141
-                else:
-                    ydl.to_screen(
-                        u'Removing cache dir %s .' % opts.cachedir,
-                        skip_eol=True)
-                    if os.path.exists(opts.cachedir):
-                        ydl.to_screen(u'.', skip_eol=True)
-                        shutil.rmtree(opts.cachedir)
-                    ydl.to_screen(u'.')
+            ydl.cache.remove()
 
         # Maybe do nothing
         if (len(all_urls) < 1) and (opts.load_info_filename is None):
diff --git a/youtube_dl/cache.py b/youtube_dl/cache.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6cae53d221
--- /dev/null
+++ b/youtube_dl/cache.py
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
+import errno
+import io
+import json
+import os
+import re
+import shutil
+import traceback
+
+from .utils import (
+    write_json_file,
+)
+
+
+class Cache(object):
+    def __init__(self, ydl):
+        self._ydl = ydl
+
+    def _get_root_dir(self):
+        res = self._ydl.params.get('cachedir')
+        if res is None:
+            cache_root = os.environ.get('XDG_CACHE_HOME', '~/.cache')
+            res = os.path.join(cache_root, 'youtube-dl')
+        return os.path.expanduser(res)
+
+    def _get_cache_fn(self, section, key, dtype):
+        assert re.match(r'^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+$', section)
+        assert re.match(r'^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+$', key)
+        return os.path.join(
+            self._get_root_dir(), section, '%s.%s' % (key, dtype))
+
+    @property
+    def enabled(self):
+        return self._ydl.params.get('cachedir') is not False
+
+    def store(self, section, key, data, dtype='json'):
+        assert dtype in ('json',)
+
+        if not self.enabled:
+            return
+
+        fn = self._get_cache_fn(section, key, dtype)
+        try:
+            try:
+                os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(fn))
+            except OSError as ose:
+                if ose.errno != errno.EEXIST:
+                    raise
+            write_json_file(data, fn)
+        except Exception:
+            tb = traceback.format_exc()
+            self._ydl.report_warning(
+                'Writing cache to %r failed: %s' % (fn, tb))
+
+    def load(self, section, key, dtype='json', default=None):
+        assert dtype in ('json',)
+
+        if not self.enabled:
+            return default
+
+        cache_fn = self._get_cache_fn(section, key, dtype)
+        try:
+            try:
+                with io.open(cache_fn, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as cachef:
+                    return json.load(cachef)
+            except ValueError:
+                try:
+                    file_size = os.path.getsize(cache_fn)
+                except (OSError, IOError) as oe:
+                    file_size = str(oe)
+                self._ydl.report_warning(
+                    'Cache retrieval from %s failed (%s)' % (cache_fn, file_size))
+        except IOError:
+            pass  # No cache available
+
+        return default
+
+    def remove(self):
+        if not self.enabled:
+            self._ydl.to_screen('Cache is disabled (Did you combine --no-cache-dir and --rm-cache-dir?)')
+            return
+
+        cachedir = self._get_root_dir()
+        if not any((term in cachedir) for term in ('cache', 'tmp')):
+            raise Exception('Not removing directory %s - this does not look like a cache dir' % cachedir)
+
+        self._ydl.to_screen(
+            'Removing cache dir %s .' % cachedir, skip_eol=True)
+        if os.path.exists(cachedir):
+            self._ydl.to_screen('.', skip_eol=True)
+            shutil.rmtree(cachedir)
+        self._ydl.to_screen('.')
diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
index 08a04737c3..70f670682e 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 # coding: utf-8
 
-import errno
-import io
 import itertools
 import json
 import os.path
@@ -21,7 +19,6 @@ from ..utils import (
     compat_str,
 
     clean_html,
-    get_cachedir,
     get_element_by_id,
     get_element_by_attribute,
     ExtractorError,
@@ -30,7 +27,6 @@ from ..utils import (
     unescapeHTML,
     unified_strdate,
     orderedSet,
-    write_json_file,
     uppercase_escape,
 )
 
@@ -435,26 +431,10 @@ class YoutubeIE(YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor, SubtitlesInfoExtractor):
         func_id = '%s_%s_%s' % (
             player_type, player_id, self._signature_cache_id(example_sig))
         assert os.path.basename(func_id) == func_id
-        cache_dir = get_cachedir(self._downloader.params)
 
-        cache_enabled = cache_dir is not None
-        if cache_enabled:
-            cache_fn = os.path.join(os.path.expanduser(cache_dir),
-                                    u'youtube-sigfuncs',
-                                    func_id + '.json')
-            try:
-                with io.open(cache_fn, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as cachef:
-                    cache_spec = json.load(cachef)
-                return lambda s: u''.join(s[i] for i in cache_spec)
-            except IOError:
-                pass  # No cache available
-            except ValueError:
-                try:
-                    file_size = os.path.getsize(cache_fn)
-                except (OSError, IOError) as oe:
-                    file_size = str(oe)
-                self._downloader.report_warning(
-                    u'Cache %s failed (%s)' % (cache_fn, file_size))
+        cache_spec = self._downloader.cache.load(u'youtube-sigfuncs', func_id)
+        if cache_spec is not None:
+            return lambda s: u''.join(s[i] for i in cache_spec)
 
         if player_type == 'js':
             code = self._download_webpage(
@@ -472,22 +452,12 @@ class YoutubeIE(YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor, SubtitlesInfoExtractor):
         else:
             assert False, 'Invalid player type %r' % player_type
 
-        if cache_enabled:
-            try:
-                test_string = u''.join(map(compat_chr, range(len(example_sig))))
-                cache_res = res(test_string)
-                cache_spec = [ord(c) for c in cache_res]
-                try:
-                    os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(cache_fn))
-                except OSError as ose:
-                    if ose.errno != errno.EEXIST:
-                        raise
-                write_json_file(cache_spec, cache_fn)
-            except Exception:
-                tb = traceback.format_exc()
-                self._downloader.report_warning(
-                    u'Writing cache to %r failed: %s' % (cache_fn, tb))
+        if cache_spec is None:
+            test_string = u''.join(map(compat_chr, range(len(example_sig))))
+            cache_res = res(test_string)
+            cache_spec = [ord(c) for c in cache_res]
 
+        self._downloader.cache.store(u'youtube-sigfuncs', func_id, cache_spec)
         return res
 
     def _print_sig_code(self, func, example_sig):
diff --git a/youtube_dl/utils.py b/youtube_dl/utils.py
index 3846dfdcad..0bc410e91b 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/utils.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/utils.py
@@ -1076,12 +1076,6 @@ def intlist_to_bytes(xs):
         return bytes(xs)
 
 
-def get_cachedir(params={}):
-    cache_root = os.environ.get('XDG_CACHE_HOME',
-                                os.path.expanduser('~/.cache'))
-    return params.get('cachedir', os.path.join(cache_root, 'youtube-dl'))
-
-
 # Cross-platform file locking
 if sys.platform == 'win32':
     import ctypes.wintypes