diff --git a/src/libespeak-ng/speech.c b/src/libespeak-ng/speech.c
index a9086e45..9f6aa600 100644
--- a/src/libespeak-ng/speech.c
+++ b/src/libespeak-ng/speech.c
@@ -390,7 +390,6 @@ static espeak_ng_STATUS Synthesize(unsigned int unique_identifier, const void *t
 	if ((outbuf == NULL) || (event_list == NULL))
 		return ENS_NOT_INITIALIZED;
 
-	option_multibyte = flags & 7;
 	option_ssml = flags & espeakSSML;
 	option_phoneme_input = flags & espeakPHONEMES;
 	option_endpause = flags & espeakENDPAUSE;
diff --git a/src/libespeak-ng/translate.c b/src/libespeak-ng/translate.c
index 506b38b5..e51e5ac9 100644
--- a/src/libespeak-ng/translate.c
+++ b/src/libespeak-ng/translate.c
@@ -85,7 +85,6 @@ PHONEME_LIST2 ph_list2[N_PHONEME_LIST]; // first stage of text->phonemes
 
 wchar_t option_punctlist[N_PUNCTLIST] = { 0 };
 char ctrl_embedded = '\001'; // to allow an alternative CTRL for embedded commands
-int option_multibyte = espeakCHARS_AUTO; // 0=auto, 1=utf8, 2=8bit, 3=wchar, 4=16bit
 
 // these are overridden by defaults set in the "speak" file
 int option_linelength = 0;
diff --git a/src/libespeak-ng/translate.h b/src/libespeak-ng/translate.h
index 15ef25f9..7e5de48b 100644
--- a/src/libespeak-ng/translate.h
+++ b/src/libespeak-ng/translate.h
@@ -661,7 +661,6 @@ extern int option_tone_flags;
 extern int option_phonemes;
 extern int option_phoneme_events;
 extern int option_linelength;     // treat lines shorter than this as end-of-clause
-extern int option_multibyte;
 extern int option_capitals;
 extern int option_punctuation;
 extern int option_endpause;