diff --git a/youtube_dl/compat.py b/youtube_dl/compat.py
index 0371896ab..ed1a33cf2 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/compat.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/compat.py
@@ -2970,7 +2970,7 @@ except (AssertionError, UnicodeEncodeError):
 
 
 def compat_ord(c):
-    if type(c) is int:
+    if isinstance(c, int):
         return c
     else:
         return ord(c)