diff --git a/source/modules/audio_decoder/ad.h b/source/modules/audio_decoder/ad.h
index 2823d9786..9fa11eb97 100644
--- a/source/modules/audio_decoder/ad.h
+++ b/source/modules/audio_decoder/ad.h
@@ -37,9 +37,6 @@ struct adinfo {
 	int     can_seek;
 };
 
-/* global init function - register codecs */
-void ad_init();
-
 /* --- public API --- */
 
 /** open an audio file
diff --git a/source/modules/audio_decoder/ad_plugin.c b/source/modules/audio_decoder/ad_plugin.c
index 9aa6a5add..24604237a 100644
--- a/source/modules/audio_decoder/ad_plugin.c
+++ b/source/modules/audio_decoder/ad_plugin.c
@@ -44,8 +44,6 @@ typedef struct {
 
 /* samplecat api */
 
-void ad_init() { /* global init */ }
-
 static ad_plugin const * choose_backend(const char *fn) {
 	int max, val;
 	ad_plugin const *b=NULL;
diff --git a/source/native-plugins/audio-base.hpp b/source/native-plugins/audio-base.hpp
index 43d331fa2..07ec6d3fa 100644
--- a/source/native-plugins/audio-base.hpp
+++ b/source/native-plugins/audio-base.hpp
@@ -245,14 +245,6 @@ public:
           fResampler(),
           fReaderMutex()
     {
-        static bool adInitiated = false;
-
-        if (! adInitiated)
-        {
-            ad_init();
-            adInitiated = true;
-        }
-
         ad_clear_nfo(&fFileNfo);
     }