diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 967f3d622c..9529d50b1f 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -371,7 +371,6 @@ Advanced options (experts only):
   --disable-safe-bitstream-reader
                            disable buffer boundary checking in bitreaders
                            (faster, but may crash)
-  --enable-memalign-hack   emulate memalign, interferes with memory debuggers
   --sws-max-filter-size=N  the max filter size swscale uses [$sws_max_filter_size_default]
 
 Optimization options (experts only):
@@ -1700,7 +1699,6 @@ CONFIG_LIST="
     $PROGRAM_LIST
     $SUBSYSTEM_LIST
     fontconfig
-    memalign_hack
     memory_poisoning
     neon_clobber_test
     pic
@@ -1835,7 +1833,6 @@ ARCH_FEATURES="
     local_aligned_8
     local_aligned_16
     local_aligned_32
-    simd_align
     simd_align_16
     simd_align_32
 "
@@ -2335,7 +2332,6 @@ aligned_stack_if_any="aarch64 ppc x86"
 fast_64bit_if_any="aarch64 alpha ia64 mips64 parisc64 ppc64 sparc64 x86_64"
 fast_clz_if_any="aarch64 alpha avr32 mips ppc x86"
 fast_unaligned_if_any="aarch64 ppc x86"
-simd_align_if_any="simd_align_16 simd_align_32"
 simd_align_16_if_any="altivec neon sse"
 simd_align_32_if_any="avx"
 
@@ -6410,9 +6406,6 @@ enabled_all dxva2 dxva2api_cobj CoTaskMemFree &&
     prepend ffmpeg_libs $($ldflags_filter "-lole32") &&
     enable dxva2_lib
 
-! enabled_any memalign posix_memalign aligned_malloc &&
-    enabled simd_align && enable memalign_hack
-
 # add_dep lib dep
 # -> enable ${lib}_deps_${dep}
 # -> add $dep to ${lib}_deps only once
diff --git a/libavutil/mem.c b/libavutil/mem.c
index 1a8fc21e98..36740f1154 100644
--- a/libavutil/mem.c
+++ b/libavutil/mem.c
@@ -77,22 +77,12 @@ void av_max_alloc(size_t max){
 void *av_malloc(size_t size)
 {
     void *ptr = NULL;
-#if CONFIG_MEMALIGN_HACK
-    long diff;
-#endif
 
     /* let's disallow possibly ambiguous cases */
     if (size > (max_alloc_size - 32))
         return NULL;
 
-#if CONFIG_MEMALIGN_HACK
-    ptr = malloc(size + ALIGN);
-    if (!ptr)
-        return ptr;
-    diff              = ((~(long)ptr)&(ALIGN - 1)) + 1;
-    ptr               = (char *)ptr + diff;
-    ((char *)ptr)[-1] = diff;
-#elif HAVE_POSIX_MEMALIGN
+#if HAVE_POSIX_MEMALIGN
     if (size) //OS X on SDK 10.6 has a broken posix_memalign implementation
     if (posix_memalign(&ptr, ALIGN, size))
         ptr = NULL;
@@ -144,25 +134,11 @@ void *av_malloc(size_t size)
 
 void *av_realloc(void *ptr, size_t size)
 {
-#if CONFIG_MEMALIGN_HACK
-    int diff;
-#endif
-
     /* let's disallow possibly ambiguous cases */
     if (size > (max_alloc_size - 32))
         return NULL;
 
-#if CONFIG_MEMALIGN_HACK
-    //FIXME this isn't aligned correctly, though it probably isn't needed
-    if (!ptr)
-        return av_malloc(size);
-    diff = ((char *)ptr)[-1];
-    av_assert0(diff>0 && diff<=ALIGN);
-    ptr = realloc((char *)ptr - diff, size + diff);
-    if (ptr)
-        ptr = (char *)ptr + diff;
-    return ptr;
-#elif HAVE_ALIGNED_MALLOC
+#if HAVE_ALIGNED_MALLOC
     return _aligned_realloc(ptr, size + !size, ALIGN);
 #else
     return realloc(ptr, size + !size);
@@ -227,13 +203,7 @@ int av_reallocp_array(void *ptr, size_t nmemb, size_t size)
 
 void av_free(void *ptr)
 {
-#if CONFIG_MEMALIGN_HACK
-    if (ptr) {
-        int v= ((char *)ptr)[-1];
-        av_assert0(v>0 && v<=ALIGN);
-        free((char *)ptr - v);
-    }
-#elif HAVE_ALIGNED_MALLOC
+#if HAVE_ALIGNED_MALLOC
     _aligned_free(ptr);
 #else
     free(ptr);