diff --git a/gallery_dl/extractor/common.py b/gallery_dl/extractor/common.py
index abb352c3..609f0dc8 100644
--- a/gallery_dl/extractor/common.py
+++ b/gallery_dl/extractor/common.py
@@ -306,11 +306,10 @@ class Extractor():
                 cookiefile = util.expand_path(cookies)
                 try:
                     with open(cookiefile) as fp:
-                        cookies = util.load_cookiestxt(fp)
+                        util.cookiestxt_load(fp, self._cookiejar)
                 except Exception as exc:
                     self.log.warning("cookies: %s", exc)
                 else:
-                    self._update_cookies(cookies)
                     self._cookiefile = cookiefile
             else:
                 self.log.warning(
@@ -322,7 +321,7 @@ class Extractor():
         if self._cookiefile and self.config("cookies-update", True):
             try:
                 with open(self._cookiefile, "w") as fp:
-                    util.save_cookiestxt(fp, self._cookiejar)
+                    util.cookiestxt_store(fp, self._cookiejar)
             except OSError as exc:
                 self.log.warning("cookies: %s", exc)
 
diff --git a/gallery_dl/util.py b/gallery_dl/util.py
index 7418ac3b..cdfb5aeb 100644
--- a/gallery_dl/util.py
+++ b/gallery_dl/util.py
@@ -302,9 +302,9 @@ def set_mtime(path, mtime):
         pass
 
 
-def load_cookiestxt(fp):
-    """Parse a Netscape cookies.txt file and return a list of its Cookies"""
-    cookies = []
+def cookiestxt_load(fp, cookiejar):
+    """Parse a Netscape cookies.txt file and add its Cookies to 'cookiejar'"""
+    set_cookie = cookiejar.set_cookie
 
     for line in fp:
 
@@ -321,11 +321,12 @@ def load_cookiestxt(fp):
 
         domain, domain_specified, path, secure, expires, name, value = \
             line.split("\t")
+
         if not name:
             name = value
             value = None
 
-        cookies.append(Cookie(
+        set_cookie(Cookie(
             0, name, value,
             None, False,
             domain,
@@ -337,12 +338,11 @@ def load_cookiestxt(fp):
             False, None, None, {},
         ))
 
-    return cookies
 
-
-def save_cookiestxt(fp, cookies):
+def cookiestxt_store(fp, cookies):
     """Write 'cookies' in Netscape cookies.txt format to 'fp'"""
-    fp.write("# Netscape HTTP Cookie File\n\n")
+    write = fp.write
+    write("# Netscape HTTP Cookie File\n\n")
 
     for cookie in cookies:
         if not cookie.domain:
@@ -355,15 +355,15 @@ def save_cookiestxt(fp, cookies):
             name = cookie.name
             value = cookie.value
 
-        fp.write("\t".join((
+        write("\t".join((
             cookie.domain,
             "TRUE" if cookie.domain.startswith(".") else "FALSE",
             cookie.path,
             "TRUE" if cookie.secure else "FALSE",
             "0" if cookie.expires is None else str(cookie.expires),
             name,
-            value,
-        )) + "\n")
+            value + "\n",
+        )))
 
 
 def code_to_language(code, default=None):
diff --git a/test/test_util.py b/test/test_util.py
index c269c9e1..7ab11756 100644
--- a/test/test_util.py
+++ b/test/test_util.py
@@ -168,11 +168,12 @@ class TestISO639_1(unittest.TestCase):
 
 class TestCookiesTxt(unittest.TestCase):
 
-    def test_load_cookiestxt(self):
+    def test_cookiestxt_load(self):
 
         def _assert(content, expected):
-            cookies = util.load_cookiestxt(io.StringIO(content, None))
-            for c, e in zip(cookies, expected):
+            jar = http.cookiejar.CookieJar()
+            util.cookiestxt_load(io.StringIO(content, None), jar)
+            for c, e in zip(jar, expected):
                 self.assertEqual(c.__dict__, e.__dict__)
 
         _assert("", [])
@@ -218,13 +219,14 @@ class TestCookiesTxt(unittest.TestCase):
         )
 
         with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
-            util.load_cookiestxt("example.org\tTRUE\t/\tTRUE\t0\tname")
+            util.cookiestxt_load("example.org\tTRUE\t/\tTRUE\t0\tname",
+                                 http.cookiejar.CookieJar())
 
-    def test_save_cookiestxt(self):
+    def test_cookiestxt_store(self):
 
         def _assert(cookies, expected):
             fp = io.StringIO(newline=None)
-            util.save_cookiestxt(fp, cookies)
+            util.cookiestxt_store(fp, cookies)
             self.assertMultiLineEqual(fp.getvalue(), expected)
 
         _assert([], "# Netscape HTTP Cookie File\n\n")