diff --git a/src/hb-buffer-private.hh b/src/hb-buffer-private.hh
index 4077bb391..39b6e5cf5 100644
--- a/src/hb-buffer-private.hh
+++ b/src/hb-buffer-private.hh
@@ -110,9 +110,6 @@ struct _hb_buffer_t {
   HB_INTERNAL void swap_buffers (void);
   HB_INTERNAL void clear_output (void);
   HB_INTERNAL void clear_positions (void);
-  HB_INTERNAL void replace_glyphs_be16 (unsigned int num_in,
-					unsigned int num_out,
-					const char *glyph_data_be);
   HB_INTERNAL void replace_glyphs (unsigned int num_in,
 				   unsigned int num_out,
 				   const hb_codepoint_t *glyph_data);
diff --git a/src/hb-buffer.cc b/src/hb-buffer.cc
index 5c8b9e8d6..44571da0d 100644
--- a/src/hb-buffer.cc
+++ b/src/hb-buffer.cc
@@ -230,29 +230,6 @@ hb_buffer_t::swap_buffers (void)
   idx = 0;
 }
 
-void
-hb_buffer_t::replace_glyphs_be16 (unsigned int num_in,
-				  unsigned int num_out,
-				  const char *glyph_data_be)
-{
-  if (!make_room_for (num_in, num_out)) return;
-
-  merge_clusters (idx, idx + num_in);
-
-  hb_glyph_info_t orig_info = info[idx];
-  hb_glyph_info_t *pinfo = &out_info[out_len];
-  const unsigned char *data = (const unsigned char *) glyph_data_be;
-  for (unsigned int i = 0; i < num_out; i++)
-  {
-    *pinfo = orig_info;
-    pinfo->codepoint = (data[2*i] << 8) | data[2*i+1];
-    pinfo++;
-  }
-
-  idx  += num_in;
-  out_len += num_out;
-}
-
 void
 hb_buffer_t::replace_glyphs (unsigned int num_in,
 			     unsigned int num_out,
diff --git a/src/hb-ot-layout-gsubgpos-private.hh b/src/hb-ot-layout-gsubgpos-private.hh
index bc8d9bcd4..d73bb29bf 100644
--- a/src/hb-ot-layout-gsubgpos-private.hh
+++ b/src/hb-ot-layout-gsubgpos-private.hh
@@ -233,14 +233,6 @@ struct hb_apply_context_t
     buffer->cur().props_cache() = klass; /*XXX if has gdef? */
     buffer->replace_glyph (glyph_index);
   }
-  inline void replace_glyphs_be16 (unsigned int num_in,
-				   unsigned int num_out,
-				   const char *glyph_data_be,
-				   unsigned int klass = 0) const
-  {
-    buffer->cur().props_cache() = klass; /* XXX if has gdef? */
-    buffer->replace_glyphs_be16 (num_in, num_out, glyph_data_be);
-  }
   inline void replace_glyphs (unsigned int num_in,
 			      unsigned int num_out,
 			      hb_codepoint_t *glyph_data,