diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index af9ff2c6d..373711499 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -143,6 +143,7 @@ ### Differences in default behavior
 * Thumbnail embedding in `mp4` is done with mutagen if possible. Use `--compat-options embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley` to force the use of AtomicParsley instead
 * Some private fields such as filenames are removed by default from the infojson. Use `--no-clean-infojson` or `--compat-options no-clean-infojson` to revert this
 * When `--embed-subs` and `--write-subs` are used together, the subtitles are written to disk and also embedded in the media file. You can use just `--embed-subs` to embed the subs and automatically delete the separate file. See [#630 (comment)](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/630#issuecomment-893659460) for more info. `--compat-options no-keep-subs` can be used to revert this
+* `certifi` will be used for SSL root certificates, if installed. If you want to use system certificates (e.g. self-signed), use `--compat-options no-certifi`
 
 For ease of use, a few more compat options are available:
 * `--compat-options all`: Use all compat options
@@ -262,12 +263,13 @@ ## DEPENDENCIES
 While all the other dependencies are optional, `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` are highly recommended
 
 * [**ffmpeg** and **ffprobe**](https://www.ffmpeg.org) - Required for [merging separate video and audio files](#format-selection) as well as for various [post-processing](#post-processing-options) tasks. License [depends on the build](https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html)
-* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen) - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
-* [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome) - For decrypting AES-128 HLS streams and various other data. Licensed under [BSD2](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
-* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets) - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD3](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
-* [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage) - For accessing the Gnome keyring while decrypting cookies of Chromium-based browsers on Linux. Licensed under [BSD](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
+* [**mutagen**](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen)\* - For embedding thumbnail in certain formats. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/quodlibet/mutagen/blob/master/COPYING)
+* [**pycryptodomex**](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome)\* - For decrypting AES-128 HLS streams and various other data. Licensed under [BSD2](https://github.com/Legrandin/pycryptodome/blob/master/LICENSE.rst)
+* [**websockets**](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets)\* - For downloading over websocket. Licensed under [BSD3](https://github.com/aaugustin/websockets/blob/main/LICENSE)
+* [**secretstorage**](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage)\* - For accessing the Gnome keyring while decrypting cookies of Chromium-based browsers on Linux. Licensed under [BSD](https://github.com/mitya57/secretstorage/blob/master/LICENSE)
+* [**brotli**](https://github.com/google/brotli)\* or [**brotlicffi**](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi) - [Brotli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotli) content encoding support. Both licensed under MIT <sup>[1](https://github.com/google/brotli/blob/master/LICENSE) [2](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi/blob/master/LICENSE) </sup>
+* [**certifi**](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi)\* - Provides Mozilla's root certificate bundle. Licensed under [MPLv2](https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi/blob/master/LICENSE)
 * [**AtomicParsley**](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley) - For embedding thumbnail in mp4/m4a if mutagen/ffmpeg cannot. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/wez/atomicparsley/blob/master/COPYING)
-* [**brotli**](https://github.com/google/brotli) or [**brotlicffi**](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi) - [Brotli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotli) content encoding support. Both licensed under MIT <sup>[1](https://github.com/google/brotli/blob/master/LICENSE) [2](https://github.com/python-hyper/brotlicffi/blob/master/LICENSE) </sup>
 * [**rtmpdump**](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu) - For downloading `rtmp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu)
 * [**mplayer**](http://mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html) or [**mpv**](https://mpv.io) - For downloading `rstp` streams. ffmpeg will be used as a fallback. Licensed under [GPLv2+](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/master/Copyright)
 * [**phantomjs**](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs) - Used in extractors where javascript needs to be run. Licensed under [BSD3](https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/blob/master/LICENSE.BSD)
@@ -276,7 +278,7 @@ ## DEPENDENCIES
 
 To use or redistribute the dependencies, you must agree to their respective licensing terms.
 
-The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are already built with the python interpreter, mutagen, pycryptodomex and websockets included.
+The Windows and MacOS standalone release binaries are already built with the python interpreter and all optional python packages (marked with \*) included.
 
 <!-- TODO: ffmpeg has merged this patch. Remove this note once there is new release -->
 **Note**: There are some regressions in newer ffmpeg versions that causes various issues when used alongside yt-dlp. Since ffmpeg is such an important dependency, we provide [custom builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#ffmpeg-static-auto-builds) with patches for these issues at [yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds). See [the readme](https://github.com/yt-dlp/FFmpeg-Builds#patches-applied) for details on the specific issues solved by these builds
diff --git a/pyinst.py b/pyinst.py
index ca115fd78..e5934e04f 100644
--- a/pyinst.py
+++ b/pyinst.py
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ def version_to_list(version):
 
 
 def dependency_options():
-    dependencies = [pycryptodome_module(), 'mutagen', 'brotli'] + collect_submodules('websockets')
+    dependencies = [pycryptodome_module(), 'mutagen', 'brotli', 'certifi'] + collect_submodules('websockets')
     excluded_modules = ['test', 'ytdlp_plugins', 'youtube-dl', 'youtube-dlc']
 
     yield from (f'--hidden-import={module}' for module in dependencies)
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index cb0eece46..a48b78d7a 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -2,4 +2,5 @@ mutagen
 pycryptodomex
 websockets
 brotli; platform_python_implementation=='CPython'
-brotlicffi; platform_python_implementation!='CPython'
\ No newline at end of file
+brotlicffi; platform_python_implementation!='CPython'
+certifi
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py b/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py
index 33f33ddfe..d075a82bc 100644
--- a/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py
+++ b/yt_dlp/YoutubeDL.py
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@
     formatSeconds,
     GeoRestrictedError,
     get_domain,
+    has_certifi,
     HEADRequest,
     InAdvancePagedList,
     int_or_none,
@@ -3676,6 +3677,7 @@ def python_implementation():
 
         lib_str = join_nonempty(
             compat_brotli and compat_brotli.__name__,
+            has_certifi and 'certifi',
             compat_pycrypto_AES and compat_pycrypto_AES.__name__.split('.')[0],
             SECRETSTORAGE_AVAILABLE and 'secretstorage',
             has_mutagen and 'mutagen',
diff --git a/yt_dlp/options.py b/yt_dlp/options.py
index 646ccebcd..3c81da6c3 100644
--- a/yt_dlp/options.py
+++ b/yt_dlp/options.py
@@ -341,7 +341,7 @@ def _dict_from_options_callback(
                 'filename', 'format-sort', 'abort-on-error', 'format-spec', 'no-playlist-metafiles',
                 'multistreams', 'no-live-chat', 'playlist-index', 'list-formats', 'no-direct-merge',
                 'no-youtube-channel-redirect', 'no-youtube-unavailable-videos', 'no-attach-info-json', 'embed-metadata',
-                'embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley', 'seperate-video-versions', 'no-clean-infojson', 'no-keep-subs',
+                'embed-thumbnail-atomicparsley', 'seperate-video-versions', 'no-clean-infojson', 'no-keep-subs', 'no-certifi',
             }, 'aliases': {
                 'youtube-dl': ['-multistreams', 'all'],
                 'youtube-dlc': ['-no-youtube-channel-redirect', '-no-live-chat', 'all'],
diff --git a/yt_dlp/utils.py b/yt_dlp/utils.py
index da6f27801..a08dc3c11 100644
--- a/yt_dlp/utils.py
+++ b/yt_dlp/utils.py
@@ -85,6 +85,12 @@
     sockssocket,
 )
 
+try:
+    import certifi
+    has_certifi = True
+except ImportError:
+    has_certifi = False
+
 
 def register_socks_protocols():
     # "Register" SOCKS protocols
@@ -1010,20 +1016,23 @@ def make_HTTPS_handler(params, **kwargs):
         context.options |= 4  # SSL_OP_LEGACY_SERVER_CONNECT
     context.verify_mode = ssl.CERT_REQUIRED if opts_check_certificate else ssl.CERT_NONE
     if opts_check_certificate:
-        try:
-            context.load_default_certs()
-            # Work around the issue in load_default_certs when there are bad certificates. See:
-            # https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/1060,
-            # https://bugs.python.org/issue35665, https://bugs.python.org/issue45312
-        except ssl.SSLError:
-            # enum_certificates is not present in mingw python. See https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/1151
-            if sys.platform == 'win32' and hasattr(ssl, 'enum_certificates'):
-                # Create a new context to discard any certificates that were already loaded
-                context = ssl.SSLContext(ssl.PROTOCOL_TLS_CLIENT)
-                context.check_hostname, context.verify_mode = True, ssl.CERT_REQUIRED
-                for storename in ('CA', 'ROOT'):
-                    _ssl_load_windows_store_certs(context, storename)
-            context.set_default_verify_paths()
+        if has_certifi and 'no-certifi' not in params.get('compat_opts', []):
+            context.load_verify_locations(cafile=certifi.where())
+        else:
+            try:
+                context.load_default_certs()
+                # Work around the issue in load_default_certs when there are bad certificates. See:
+                # https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/1060,
+                # https://bugs.python.org/issue35665, https://bugs.python.org/issue45312
+            except ssl.SSLError:
+                # enum_certificates is not present in mingw python. See https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/1151
+                if sys.platform == 'win32' and hasattr(ssl, 'enum_certificates'):
+                    # Create a new context to discard any certificates that were already loaded
+                    context = ssl.SSLContext(ssl.PROTOCOL_TLS_CLIENT)
+                    context.check_hostname, context.verify_mode = True, ssl.CERT_REQUIRED
+                    for storename in ('CA', 'ROOT'):
+                        _ssl_load_windows_store_certs(context, storename)
+                context.set_default_verify_paths()
     return YoutubeDLHTTPSHandler(params, context=context, **kwargs)