diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/mdr.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/mdr.py
index 8b096a78a6..366352dbe7 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/mdr.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/mdr.py
@@ -5,35 +5,28 @@
     ExtractorError,
 )
 
+
 class MDRIE(InfoExtractor):
     _VALID_URL = r'^(?P<domain>(?:https?://)?(?:www\.)?mdr\.de)/mediathek/(?:.*)/(?P<type>video|audio)(?P<video_id>[^/_]+)_.*'
-    _TITLE = r'<h2>(?P<title1>[^<]+)<span>(?P<title2>[^<]+)</span></h2>'
 
-    _MEDIA_XML = r'(?P<xmlurl>/mediathek/(.+)/(video|audio)([0-9]+)-avCustom.xml)'
-    _MEDIA_STREAM_VIDEO = r'<asset>.*<frameWidth>(?P<frameWidth>[0-9]+)</frameWidth>.*<flashMediaServerApplicationURL>(?P<flashMediaServerApplicationURL>[^<]+)</flashMediaServerApplicationURL><flashMediaServerURL>(?P<flashMediaServerURL>[^<]+)</flashMediaServerURL>.*<progressiveDownloadUrl>(?P<progressiveDownloadUrl>[^<]+)</progressiveDownloadUrl></asset>'
-    _MEDIA_STREAM_AUDIO = r'<asset>.*<mediaType>(?P<mediaType>[A-Z0-9]+)</mediaType><bitrateAudio>(?P<bitrateAudio>[0-9]+)</bitrateAudio>.*<flashMediaServerApplicationURL>(?P<flashMediaServerApplicationURL>[^<]+)</flashMediaServerApplicationURL><flashMediaServerURL>(?P<flashMediaServerURL>[^<]+)</flashMediaServerURL>.*<progressiveDownloadUrl>(?P<progressiveDownloadUrl>[^<]+)</progressiveDownloadUrl></asset>'
     _TESTS = [{
         u'url': u'http://www.mdr.de/mediathek/themen/nachrichten/video165624_zc-c5c7de76_zs-3795826d.html',
         u'file': u'165624.mp4',
-        u'md5': u'95165945756198b8fa2dea10f0b04614',
+        u'md5': u'ae785f36ecbf2f19b42edf1bc9c85815',
         u'info_dict': {
             u"title": u"MDR aktuell Eins30 09.12.2013, 22:48 Uhr"
         },
-        #u'skip': u'Requires rtmpdump'    # rtmp is optional
     },
     {
-        u'url': u' http://www.mdr.de/mediathek/radio/mdr1-radio-sachsen/audio718370_zc-67b21197_zs-1b9b2483.html',
-        u'file': u'718370.mp4',
-        u'md5': u'4a5b1fbb5519fb0d929c384b6ff7cb8b',
+        u'url': u'http://www.mdr.de/mediathek/radio/mdr1-radio-sachsen/audio718370_zc-67b21197_zs-1b9b2483.html',
+        u'file': u'718370.mp3',
+        u'md5': u'a9d21345a234c7b45dee612f290fd8d7',
         u'info_dict': {
             u"title": u"MDR 1 RADIO SACHSEN 10.12.2013, 05:00 Uhr"
         },
-        #u'skip': u'Requires rtmpdump'    # rtmp is optional
     }]
 
     def _real_extract(self, url):
-
-        # determine video id from url
         m = re.match(self._VALID_URL, url)
         video_id = m.group('video_id')
         domain = m.group('domain')
@@ -41,38 +34,46 @@ def _real_extract(self, url):
 
         # determine title and media streams from webpage
         html = self._download_webpage(url, video_id)
-        t = re.search(self._TITLE, html)
-        if not t:
-            raise ExtractorError(u'no title found')
-        title = t.group('title1') + t.group('title2')
-        m = re.search(self._MEDIA_XML, html)
-        if not m:
-            raise ExtractorError(u'no xml found')
-        xmlurl = m.group('xmlurl')
-        xml = self._download_webpage(domain+xmlurl, video_id, 'download XML').replace('\n','').replace('\r','').replace('<asset>','\n<asset>').replace('</asset>','</asset>\n')
-        if(mediatype == "video"):
-            streams = [mo.groupdict() for mo in re.finditer(self._MEDIA_STREAM_VIDEO, xml)]
-            if not streams:
-                raise ExtractorError(u'no media found')
-            # choose default media type and highest quality for now
-            stream = max([s for s in streams if s["progressiveDownloadUrl"].startswith("http://") ],
-                         key=lambda s: int(s["frameWidth"]))
-        else:
-            streams = [mo.groupdict() for mo in re.finditer(self._MEDIA_STREAM_AUDIO, xml)]
-            if not streams:
-                raise ExtractorError(u'no media found')
-            # choose default media type (MP4) and highest quality for now
-            stream = max([s for s in streams if s["progressiveDownloadUrl"].startswith("http://") and s["mediaType"] == "MP4" ],
-                         key=lambda s: int(s["bitrateAudio"]))
 
-        # there's two possibilities: RTMP stream or HTTP download
-        info = {'id': video_id, 'title': title, 'ext': 'mp4'}
-        if not stream["progressiveDownloadUrl"]:
-            self.to_screen(u'RTMP download detected')
-            assert stream['flashMediaServerURL'].startswith('mp4:')
-            info["url"] = stream["flashMediaServerApplicationURL"]
-            info["play_path"] = stream['flashMediaServerURL']
-        else:
-            assert stream["progressiveDownloadUrl"].endswith('.mp4')
-            info["url"] = stream["progressiveDownloadUrl"]
-        return [info]
+        title = self._html_search_regex(r'<h2>(.*?)</h2>', html, u'title')
+        xmlurl = self._search_regex(
+            r'(/mediathek/(?:.+)/(?:video|audio)[0-9]+-avCustom.xml)', html, u'XML URL')
+
+        doc = self._download_xml(domain + xmlurl, video_id)
+        formats = []
+        for a in doc.findall('./assets/asset'):
+            url_el = a.find('.//progressiveDownloadUrl')
+            if url_el is None:
+                continue
+            abr = int(a.find('bitrateAudio').text) // 1000
+            media_type = a.find('mediaType').text
+            format = {
+                'abr': abr,
+                'filesize': int(a.find('fileSize').text),
+                'url': url_el.text,
+            }
+
+            vbr_el = a.find('bitrateVideo')
+            if vbr_el is None:
+                format.update({
+                    'vcodec': 'none',
+                    'format_id': u'%s-%d' % (media_type, abr),
+                })
+            else:
+                vbr = int(vbr_el.text) // 1000
+                format.update({
+                    'vbr': vbr,
+                    'width': int(a.find('frameWidth').text),
+                    'height': int(a.find('frameHeight').text),
+                    'format_id': u'%s-%d' % (media_type, vbr),
+                })
+            formats.append(format)
+        formats.sort(key=lambda f: (f.get('vbr'), f['abr']))
+        if not formats:
+            raise ValueError('Could not find any valid formats')
+
+        return {
+            'id': video_id,
+            'title': title,
+            'formats': formats,
+        }