diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/ehow.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/ehow.py
index 2bb77aec6c..f8f49a0135 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/ehow.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/ehow.py
@@ -1,23 +1,25 @@
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
 import re
 
 from ..utils import (
     compat_urllib_parse,
-    determine_ext
 )
 from .common import InfoExtractor
 
 
 class EHowIE(InfoExtractor):
-    IE_NAME = u'eHow'
-    _VALID_URL = r'(?:https?://)?(?:www\.)?ehow\.com/[^/_?]*_(?P<id>[0-9]+)'
+    IE_NAME = 'eHow'
+    _VALID_URL = r'https?://(?:www\.)?ehow\.com/[^/_?]*_(?P<id>[0-9]+)'
     _TEST = {
-        u'url': u'http://www.ehow.com/video_12245069_hardwood-flooring-basics.html',
-        u'file': u'12245069.flv',
-        u'md5': u'9809b4e3f115ae2088440bcb4efbf371',
-        u'info_dict': {
-            u"title": u"Hardwood Flooring Basics",
-            u"description": u"Hardwood flooring may be time consuming, but its ultimately a pretty straightforward concept. Learn about hardwood flooring basics with help from a hardware flooring business owner in this free video...",
-   			u"uploader": u"Erick Nathan"
+        'url': 'http://www.ehow.com/video_12245069_hardwood-flooring-basics.html',
+        'md5': '9809b4e3f115ae2088440bcb4efbf371',
+        'info_dict': {
+            'id': '12245069',
+            'ext': 'flv',
+            'title': 'Hardwood Flooring Basics',
+            'description': 'Hardwood flooring may be time consuming, but its ultimately a pretty straightforward concept. Learn about hardwood flooring basics with help from a hardware flooring business owner in this free video...',
+            'uploader': 'Erick Nathan',
         }
     }
 
@@ -26,21 +28,16 @@ class EHowIE(InfoExtractor):
         video_id = mobj.group('id')
         webpage = self._download_webpage(url, video_id)
         video_url = self._search_regex(r'(?:file|source)=(http[^\'"&]*)',
-            webpage, u'video URL')
-        final_url = compat_urllib_parse.unquote(video_url)        
-        uploader = self._search_regex(r'<meta name="uploader" content="(.+?)" />',
-            webpage, u'uploader')
+            webpage, 'video URL')
+        final_url = compat_urllib_parse.unquote(video_url)
+        uploader = self._html_search_meta('uploader', webpage)
         title = self._og_search_title(webpage).replace(' | eHow', '')
-        ext = determine_ext(final_url)
 
         return {
-            '_type':       'video',
-            'id':          video_id,
-            'url':         final_url,
-            'ext':         ext,
-            'title':       title,
-            'thumbnail':   self._og_search_thumbnail(webpage),
+            'id': video_id,
+            'url': final_url,
+            'title': title,
+            'thumbnail': self._og_search_thumbnail(webpage),
             'description': self._og_search_description(webpage),
-            'uploader':    uploader,
+            'uploader': uploader,
         }
-