diff --git a/conda/artiq/meta.yaml b/conda/artiq/meta.yaml
index 5ef780b86..1bc4d33e3 100644
--- a/conda/artiq/meta.yaml
+++ b/conda/artiq/meta.yaml
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ requirements:
     - python >=3.5.1
     - setuptools
     - numpy
-    - pyelftools
     - binutils-or1k-linux
   run:
     - python >=3.5.1
@@ -49,7 +48,6 @@ requirements:
     - h5py
     - dateutil
     - pydaqmx
-    - pyelftools
     - quamash
     - pyqtgraph
     - pygit2
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 608dda10d..730f87f87 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ if sys.version_info[:3] < (3, 5, 1):
 
 requirements = [
     "sphinx", "sphinx-argparse", "pyserial", "numpy", "scipy",
-    "python-dateutil", "prettytable", "h5py", "pydaqmx", "pyelftools",
+    "python-dateutil", "prettytable", "h5py", "pydaqmx",
     "quamash", "pyqtgraph", "pygit2", "aiohttp",
     "llvmlite_artiq", "pythonparser", "python-Levenshtein",
     "lit", "OutputCheck",