diff --git a/src/tiff_reader.cpp b/src/tiff_reader.cpp
index e6eed4241..5f3142d64 100644
--- a/src/tiff_reader.cpp
+++ b/src/tiff_reader.cpp
@@ -169,8 +169,6 @@ private:
     template <typename ImageData>
     void read_stripped(std::size_t x,std::size_t y, ImageData & image);
 
-    void read_stripped(std::size_t x,std::size_t y, image_rgba8 & image);
-
     template <typename ImageData>
     void read_tiled(std::size_t x,std::size_t y, ImageData & image);
 
@@ -714,54 +712,6 @@ void tiff_reader<T>::read_tiled(std::size_t x0,std::size_t y0, ImageData & image
     }
 }
 
-template <typename T>
-void tiff_reader<T>::read_stripped(std::size_t x0, std::size_t y0, image_rgba8 & image)
-{
-    using pixel_type = typename detail::tiff_reader_traits<image_rgba8>::pixel_type;
-    TIFF* tif = open(stream_);
-    if (tif)
-    {
-        std::uint32_t strip_size = TIFFStripSize(tif);
-        std::unique_ptr<pixel_type[]> strip(new pixel_type[strip_size]);
-        std::size_t width = image.width();
-        std::size_t height = image.height();
-
-        std::size_t start_y = (y0 / rows_per_strip_) * rows_per_strip_;
-        std::size_t end_y = std::min(y0 + height, height_);
-        std::size_t tx0, tx1, ty0, ty1, rows_on_strip;
-
-        tx0 = x0;
-        tx1 = std::min(width + x0, width_);
-        rows_on_strip = rows_per_strip_;
-        std::size_t row = 0;
-        bool pick_first_band = (bands_ > 1) && (strip_size / (width_ * rows_per_strip_ * sizeof(pixel_type)) == bands_);
-        for (std::size_t y = start_y; y < end_y; y += rows_per_strip_)
-        {
-            ty0 = std::max(y0, y) - y;
-            ty1 = std::min(end_y, y + rows_per_strip_) - y;
-            rows_on_strip = std::min(end_y - y, static_cast<std::size_t>(rows_per_strip_));
-
-            if (!detail::tiff_reader_traits<image_rgba8>::read_strip(tif, y, rows_per_strip_, width_, strip.get()))
-            {
-                MAPNIK_LOG_DEBUG(tiff_reader) << "TIFFRead(Encoded|RGBA)Strip failed at " << y << " for " << width_ << "/" << height_ << "\n";
-                break;
-            }
-            if (pick_first_band)
-            {
-                std::uint32_t size = width_ * rows_per_strip_ * sizeof(pixel_type);
-                for (std::uint32_t n = 0; n < size; ++n)
-                {
-                    strip[n] = strip[bands_ * n];
-                }
-            }
-            for (std::size_t ty = ty0; ty < ty1; ++ty)
-            {
-                image.set_row(row++, tx0 - x0, tx1 - x0, &strip[(rows_on_strip - ty - 1) * width_ + tx0]);
-            }
-        }
-    }
-}
-
 template <typename T>
 template <typename ImageData>
 void tiff_reader<T>::read_stripped(std::size_t x0, std::size_t y0, ImageData & image)