diff --git a/core/src/common/bit.rs b/core/src/common/bit.rs
index 0c2bae835..c695b7acf 100644
--- a/core/src/common/bit.rs
+++ b/core/src/common/bit.rs
@@ -105,20 +105,6 @@ macro_rules! read_num_bytes {
     }};
 }
 
-/// u64 specific version of read_num_bytes!
-/// This is faster than read_num_bytes! because this method avoids buffer copies.
-#[inline]
-pub fn read_num_bytes_u64(size: usize, src: &[u8]) -> u64 {
-    debug_assert!(size <= src.len());
-    if unlikely(src.len() < 8) {
-        return read_num_bytes!(u64, size, src);
-    }
-    let in_ptr = src as *const [u8] as *const u8 as *const u64;
-    let v = unsafe { in_ptr.read_unaligned() };
-    trailing_bits(v, size * 8)
-}
-
-
 /// Similar to the `read_num_bytes` but read nums from bytes in big-endian order
 /// This is used to read bytes from Java's OutputStream which writes bytes in big-endian
 macro_rules! read_num_be_bytes {
@@ -542,7 +528,7 @@ pub struct BitReader {
 impl BitReader {
     pub fn new(buf: Buffer, len: usize) -> Self {
         let num_bytes = cmp::min(8, len);
-        let buffered_values = read_num_bytes_u64(num_bytes, buf.as_slice());
+        let buffered_values = read_num_bytes!(u64, num_bytes, buf.as_slice());
         BitReader {
             buffer: buf,
             buffered_values,
@@ -561,7 +547,7 @@ impl BitReader {
         self.buffer = buf;
         self.total_bytes = self.buffer.len();
         let num_bytes = cmp::min(8, self.total_bytes);
-        self.buffered_values = read_num_bytes_u64(num_bytes, self.buffer.as_slice());
+        self.buffered_values = read_num_bytes!(u64, num_bytes, self.buffer.as_slice());
         self.byte_offset = 0;
         self.bit_offset = 0;
     }
@@ -964,7 +950,7 @@ impl BitReader {
     fn reload_buffer_values(&mut self) {
         let bytes_to_read = cmp::min(self.total_bytes - self.byte_offset, 8);
         self.buffered_values =
-            read_num_bytes_u64(bytes_to_read, &self.buffer.as_slice()[self.byte_offset..]);
+            read_num_bytes!(u64, bytes_to_read, &self.buffer.as_slice()[self.byte_offset..]);
     }
 }
 
@@ -996,17 +982,6 @@ mod tests {
     };
     use std::fmt::Debug;
 
-    #[test]
-    fn test_read_num_bytes_u64() {
-        let buffer: Vec<u8> = vec![0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7];
-        for size in 0..buffer.len() {
-            assert_eq!(
-                read_num_bytes_u64(size, &buffer),
-                read_num_bytes!(u64, size, &buffer),
-            );
-        }
-    }
-
     #[test]
     fn test_ceil() {
         assert_eq!(ceil(0, 1), 0);