diff --git a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
index 9e5620eef..eba8a58ed 100755
--- a/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/YoutubeDL.py
@@ -454,6 +454,9 @@ class YoutubeDL(object):
                 'Parameter outtmpl is bytes, but should be a unicode string. '
                 'Put  from __future__ import unicode_literals  at the top of your code file or consider switching to Python 3.x.')
 
+        if not self._screen_file.isatty():
+            self.params['progress_with_newline'] = True
+
         self._setup_opener()
 
         if auto_init:
diff --git a/youtube_dl/downloader/common.py b/youtube_dl/downloader/common.py
index 91e691776..beb3a5964 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/downloader/common.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/downloader/common.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ from __future__ import division, unicode_literals
 
 import os
 import re
-import sys
 import time
 import random
 
@@ -251,7 +250,7 @@ class FileDownloader(object):
                 self._report_progress_prev_line_length = len(fullmsg)
                 clear_line = '\r'
             else:
-                clear_line = ('\r\x1b[K' if sys.stderr.isatty() else '\r')
+                clear_line = '\r\x1b[K'
             self.to_screen(clear_line + fullmsg, skip_eol=not is_last_line)
         self.to_console_title('youtube-dl ' + msg)
 
diff --git a/youtube_dl/options.py b/youtube_dl/options.py
index 61705d1f0..7917d67b6 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/options.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/options.py
@@ -642,7 +642,7 @@ def parseOpts(overrideArguments=None):
     verbosity.add_option(
         '--newline',
         action='store_true', dest='progress_with_newline', default=False,
-        help='Output progress bar as new lines')
+        help='Output progress bar as new lines (implied if output is not to the console)')
     verbosity.add_option(
         '--no-progress',
         action='store_true', dest='noprogress', default=False,