diff --git a/test/helper.py b/test/helper.py
index bdd7acca4..f2d878212 100644
--- a/test/helper.py
+++ b/test/helper.py
@@ -11,8 +11,11 @@
 
 import youtube_dl.extractor
 from youtube_dl import YoutubeDL
-from youtube_dl.utils import (
+from youtube_dl.compat import (
+    compat_os_name,
     compat_str,
+)
+from youtube_dl.utils import (
     preferredencoding,
     write_string,
 )
@@ -42,7 +45,7 @@ def report_warning(message):
     Print the message to stderr, it will be prefixed with 'WARNING:'
     If stderr is a tty file the 'WARNING:' will be colored
     '''
-    if sys.stderr.isatty() and os.name != 'nt':
+    if sys.stderr.isatty() and compat_os_name != 'nt':
         _msg_header = '\033[0;33mWARNING:\033[0m'
     else:
         _msg_header = 'WARNING:'
diff --git a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
index 8f3a8b9e3..dcc867e45 100755
--- a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
@@ -24,9 +24,6 @@
 import tokenize
 import traceback
 
-if os.name == 'nt':
-    import ctypes
-
 from .compat import (
     compat_basestring,
     compat_cookiejar,
@@ -34,6 +31,7 @@
     compat_get_terminal_size,
     compat_http_client,
     compat_kwargs,
+    compat_os_name,
     compat_str,
     compat_tokenize_tokenize,
     compat_urllib_error,
@@ -95,6 +93,9 @@
 )
 from .version import __version__
 
+if compat_os_name == 'nt':
+    import ctypes
+
 
 class YoutubeDL(object):
     """YoutubeDL class.
@@ -450,7 +451,7 @@ def to_stderr(self, message):
     def to_console_title(self, message):
         if not self.params.get('consoletitle', False):
             return
-        if os.name == 'nt' and ctypes.windll.kernel32.GetConsoleWindow():
+        if compat_os_name == 'nt' and ctypes.windll.kernel32.GetConsoleWindow():
             # c_wchar_p() might not be necessary if `message` is
             # already of type unicode()
             ctypes.windll.kernel32.SetConsoleTitleW(ctypes.c_wchar_p(message))
@@ -521,7 +522,7 @@ def report_warning(self, message):
         else:
             if self.params.get('no_warnings'):
                 return
-            if not self.params.get('no_color') and self._err_file.isatty() and os.name != 'nt':
+            if not self.params.get('no_color') and self._err_file.isatty() and compat_os_name != 'nt':
                 _msg_header = '\033[0;33mWARNING:\033[0m'
             else:
                 _msg_header = 'WARNING:'
@@ -533,7 +534,7 @@ def report_error(self, message, tb=None):
         Do the same as trouble, but prefixes the message with 'ERROR:', colored
         in red if stderr is a tty file.
         '''
-        if not self.params.get('no_color') and self._err_file.isatty() and os.name != 'nt':
+        if not self.params.get('no_color') and self._err_file.isatty() and compat_os_name != 'nt':
             _msg_header = '\033[0;31mERROR:\033[0m'
         else:
             _msg_header = 'ERROR:'
diff --git a/youtube_dl/compat.py b/youtube_dl/compat.py
index b497da696..2771fb5fa 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/compat.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/compat.py
@@ -326,6 +326,9 @@ def compat_ord(c):
         return ord(c)
 
 
+compat_os_name = os._name if os.name == 'java' else os.name
+
+
 if sys.version_info >= (3, 0):
     compat_getenv = os.getenv
     compat_expanduser = os.path.expanduser
@@ -346,7 +349,7 @@ def compat_getenv(key, default=None):
     # The following are os.path.expanduser implementations from cpython 2.7.8 stdlib
     # for different platforms with correct environment variables decoding.
 
-    if os.name == 'posix':
+    if compat_os_name == 'posix':
         def compat_expanduser(path):
             """Expand ~ and ~user constructions.  If user or $HOME is unknown,
             do nothing."""
@@ -370,7 +373,7 @@ def compat_expanduser(path):
                 userhome = pwent.pw_dir
             userhome = userhome.rstrip('/')
             return (userhome + path[i:]) or '/'
-    elif os.name == 'nt' or os.name == 'ce':
+    elif compat_os_name == 'nt' or compat_os_name == 'ce':
         def compat_expanduser(path):
             """Expand ~ and ~user constructs.
 
@@ -556,6 +559,7 @@ def compat_itertools_count(start=0, step=1):
     'compat_itertools_count',
     'compat_kwargs',
     'compat_ord',
+    'compat_os_name',
     'compat_parse_qs',
     'compat_print',
     'compat_shlex_split',
diff --git a/youtube_dl/downloader/common.py b/youtube_dl/downloader/common.py
index 2d5154051..f39db58f6 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/downloader/common.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/downloader/common.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 import sys
 import time
 
+from ..compat import compat_os_name
 from ..utils import (
     encodeFilename,
     error_to_compat_str,
@@ -219,7 +220,7 @@ def _report_progress_status(self, msg, is_last_line=False):
         if self.params.get('progress_with_newline', False):
             self.to_screen(fullmsg)
         else:
-            if os.name == 'nt':
+            if compat_os_name == 'nt':
                 prev_len = getattr(self, '_report_progress_prev_line_length',
                                    0)
                 if prev_len > len(fullmsg):
diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py
index 402f2f436..07bd2cbe2 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py
@@ -15,13 +15,14 @@
 from ..compat import (
     compat_cookiejar,
     compat_cookies,
+    compat_etree_fromstring,
     compat_getpass,
     compat_http_client,
+    compat_os_name,
+    compat_str,
     compat_urllib_error,
     compat_urllib_parse,
     compat_urlparse,
-    compat_str,
-    compat_etree_fromstring,
 )
 from ..utils import (
     NO_DEFAULT,
@@ -427,7 +428,7 @@ def _webpage_read_content(self, urlh, url_or_request, video_id, note=None, errno
             self.to_screen('Saving request to ' + filename)
             # Working around MAX_PATH limitation on Windows (see
             # http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365247(v=vs.85).aspx)
-            if os.name == 'nt':
+            if compat_os_name == 'nt':
                 absfilepath = os.path.abspath(filename)
                 if len(absfilepath) > 259:
                     filename = '\\\\?\\' + absfilepath
@@ -596,7 +597,7 @@ def _search_regex(self, pattern, string, name, default=NO_DEFAULT, fatal=True, f
                 if mobj:
                     break
 
-        if not self._downloader.params.get('no_color') and os.name != 'nt' and sys.stderr.isatty():
+        if not self._downloader.params.get('no_color') and compat_os_name != 'nt' and sys.stderr.isatty():
             _name = '\033[0;34m%s\033[0m' % name
         else:
             _name = name
diff --git a/youtube_dl/postprocessor/xattrpp.py b/youtube_dl/postprocessor/xattrpp.py
index 480d48d05..e39ca60aa 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/postprocessor/xattrpp.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/postprocessor/xattrpp.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import errno
 
 from .common import PostProcessor
+from ..compat import compat_os_name
 from ..utils import (
     check_executable,
     hyphenate_date,
@@ -73,7 +74,7 @@ def write_xattr(path, key, value):
                     raise XAttrMetadataError(e.errno, e.strerror)
 
         except ImportError:
-            if os.name == 'nt':
+            if compat_os_name == 'nt':
                 # Write xattrs to NTFS Alternate Data Streams:
                 # http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS#Alternate_data_streams_.28ADS.29
                 def write_xattr(path, key, value):
@@ -168,7 +169,7 @@ def write_xattr(path, key, value):
                     'Unable to write extended attributes due to too long values.')
             else:
                 msg = 'This filesystem doesn\'t support extended attributes. '
-                if os.name == 'nt':
+                if compat_os_name == 'nt':
                     msg += 'You need to use NTFS.'
                 else:
                     msg += '(You may have to enable them in your /etc/fstab)'