diff --git a/test/test_div.py b/test/test_div.py
index 4525c8be6..4d4819b3c 100644
--- a/test/test_div.py
+++ b/test/test_div.py
@@ -16,13 +16,14 @@ def test_simplify_title():
 	assert u'/' not in youtube_dl._simplify_title(u'abc/de')
 	assert u'abc' in youtube_dl._simplify_title(u'abc/de')
 	assert u'de' in youtube_dl._simplify_title(u'abc/de')
+	assert u'/' not in youtube_dl._simplify_title(u'abc/de///')
 
 	assert u'\\' not in youtube_dl._simplify_title(u'abc\\de')
 	assert u'abc' in youtube_dl._simplify_title(u'abc\\de')
 	assert u'de' in youtube_dl._simplify_title(u'abc\\de')
 
-	# TODO: Fix #220
-	#assert youtube_dl._simplify_title(u'ä') == u'ä'
+	assert youtube_dl._simplify_title(u'ä') == u'ä'
+	assert youtube_dl._simplify_title(u'кириллица') == u'кириллица'
 
 	# Strip underlines
 	assert youtube_dl._simplify_title(u'\'a_') == u'a'
diff --git a/youtube_dl/__init__.py b/youtube_dl/__init__.py
index d4eadc905..36520c594 100755
--- a/youtube_dl/__init__.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/__init__.py
@@ -278,7 +278,8 @@ def timeconvert(timestr):
 	return timestamp
 
 def _simplify_title(title):
-	return re.sub(ur'[^\w\d_\-]+', u'_', title).strip(u'_')
+	expr = re.compile(ur'[^\w\d_\-]+', flags=re.UNICODE)
+	return expr.sub(u'_', title).strip(u'_')
 
 class DownloadError(Exception):
 	"""Download Error exception.
@@ -2937,6 +2938,7 @@ def _real_extract(self, url):
 			if urlh.headers.get('Content-Type', '').startswith('video/'): # Direct download
 				basename = url.split('/')[-1]
 				title,ext = os.path.splitext(basename)
+				title = title.decode('UTF-8')
 				ext = ext.replace('.', '')
 				self.report_direct_download(title)
 				info = {
@@ -3089,9 +3091,9 @@ def _real_extract(self, url):
 
 		if mobj.group('shortname'):
 			if mobj.group('shortname') in ('tds', 'thedailyshow'):
-				url = 'http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/'
+				url = u'http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/'
 			else:
-				url = 'http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/'
+				url = u'http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/'
 			mobj = re.match(self._VALID_URL, url)
 			assert mobj is not None
 
@@ -3177,7 +3179,7 @@ def _real_extract(self, url):
 
 			self._downloader.increment_downloads()
 
-			effTitle = showId + '-' + epTitle
+			effTitle = showId + u'-' + epTitle
 			info = {
 				'id': shortMediaId,
 				'url': video_url,