diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
index 48e93c2fa..dab0b8e6b 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
@@ -1824,7 +1824,7 @@ class YoutubeIE(YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor):
                             else:
                                 player_version = self._search_regex(
                                     [r'html5player-([^/]+?)(?:/html5player(?:-new)?)?\.js',
-                                     r'(?:www|player)-([^/]+)(?:/[a-z]{2}_[A-Z]{2})?/base\.js'],
+                                     r'(?:www|player)-([^/]+)(?:/[a-z]{2,3}_[A-Z]{2})?/base\.js'],
                                     player_url,
                                     'html5 player', fatal=False)
                                 player_desc = 'html5 player %s' % player_version