diff --git a/youtube_dl/__main__.py b/youtube_dl/__main__.py
index 7022ea4bec..3fe29c91f4 100755
--- a/youtube_dl/__main__.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/__main__.py
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@
 if __package__ is None and not hasattr(sys, "frozen"):
     # direct call of __main__.py
     import os.path
-    sys.path.append(os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))))
+    path = os.path.realpath(os.path.abspath(__file__))
+    sys.path.append(os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(path)))
 
 import youtube_dl