diff --git a/cmdutils.c b/cmdutils.c
index 6e7a0bb09b..15b1bccd44 100644
--- a/cmdutils.c
+++ b/cmdutils.c
@@ -1875,64 +1875,6 @@ int read_yesno(void)
     return yesno;
 }
 
-int cmdutils_read_file(const char *filename, char **bufptr, size_t *size)
-{
-    int64_t ret;
-    FILE *f = av_fopen_utf8(filename, "rb");
-
-    if (!f) {
-        ret = AVERROR(errno);
-        av_log(NULL, AV_LOG_ERROR, "Cannot read file '%s': %s\n", filename,
-               strerror(errno));
-        return ret;
-    }
-
-    ret = fseek(f, 0, SEEK_END);
-    if (ret == -1) {
-        ret = AVERROR(errno);
-        goto out;
-    }
-
-    ret = ftell(f);
-    if (ret < 0) {
-        ret = AVERROR(errno);
-        goto out;
-    }
-    *size = ret;
-
-    ret = fseek(f, 0, SEEK_SET);
-    if (ret == -1) {
-        ret = AVERROR(errno);
-        goto out;
-    }
-
-    *bufptr = av_malloc(*size + 1);
-    if (!*bufptr) {
-        av_log(NULL, AV_LOG_ERROR, "Could not allocate file buffer\n");
-        ret = AVERROR(ENOMEM);
-        goto out;
-    }
-    ret = fread(*bufptr, 1, *size, f);
-    if (ret < *size) {
-        av_free(*bufptr);
-        if (ferror(f)) {
-            ret = AVERROR(errno);
-            av_log(NULL, AV_LOG_ERROR, "Error while reading file '%s': %s\n",
-                   filename, strerror(errno));
-        } else
-            ret = AVERROR_EOF;
-    } else {
-        ret = 0;
-        (*bufptr)[(*size)++] = '\0';
-    }
-
-out:
-    if (ret < 0)
-        av_log(NULL, AV_LOG_ERROR, "IO error: %s\n", av_err2str(ret));
-    fclose(f);
-    return ret;
-}
-
 FILE *get_preset_file(char *filename, size_t filename_size,
                       const char *preset_name, int is_path,
                       const char *codec_name)
diff --git a/cmdutils.h b/cmdutils.h
index a21ce35fa8..55134ff27b 100644
--- a/cmdutils.h
+++ b/cmdutils.h
@@ -529,18 +529,6 @@ int show_colors(void *optctx, const char *opt, const char *arg);
  */
 int read_yesno(void);
 
-/**
- * Read the file with name filename, and put its content in a newly
- * allocated 0-terminated buffer.
- *
- * @param filename file to read from
- * @param bufptr location where pointer to buffer is returned
- * @param size   location where size of buffer is returned
- * @return >= 0 in case of success, a negative value corresponding to an
- * AVERROR error code in case of failure.
- */
-int cmdutils_read_file(const char *filename, char **bufptr, size_t *size);
-
 /**
  * Get a file corresponding to a preset file.
  *
diff --git a/ffmpeg_opt.c b/ffmpeg_opt.c
index 172a2255d1..91100447d1 100644
--- a/ffmpeg_opt.c
+++ b/ffmpeg_opt.c
@@ -1482,9 +1482,9 @@ static OutputStream *new_video_stream(OptionsContext *o, AVFormatContext *oc, in
                 av_dict_set(&ost->encoder_opts, "stats", logfilename, AV_DICT_DONT_OVERWRITE);
             } else {
                 if (video_enc->flags & CODEC_FLAG_PASS2) {
-                    char  *logbuffer;
-                    size_t logbuffer_size;
-                    if (cmdutils_read_file(logfilename, &logbuffer, &logbuffer_size) < 0) {
+                    char  *logbuffer = read_file(logfilename);
+
+                    if (!logbuffer) {
                         av_log(NULL, AV_LOG_FATAL, "Error reading log file '%s' for pass-2 encoding\n",
                                logfilename);
                         exit_program(1);