diff --git a/Tools/PyUtils/python/AthFile/__init__.py b/Tools/PyUtils/python/AthFile/__init__.py
index c98abc15251e239cb12766f3cd1640ef906806ae..0be996f426b2635068c40e683de1880eba24e16b 100644
--- a/Tools/PyUtils/python/AthFile/__init__.py
+++ b/Tools/PyUtils/python/AthFile/__init__.py
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@ class ModuleFacade(types.ModuleType):
         self.__dict__[ '__file__' ] = module.__file__
 
         self.__dict__['_impl']  = _impl
-        self.__dict__['_guess_file_type'] = _guess_file_type
 
         self.__dict__['server'] = _impl.g_server
         
@@ -145,43 +144,6 @@ class ModuleFacade(types.ModuleType):
     
     pass # class ModuleFacade
 
-###
-
-def _guess_file_type(fname, msg):
-    """guess the type of an input file (bs,rdo,esd,aod,...)
-    """
-    input_type = None
-    import PyUtils.AthFile as af
-    try:
-        file_type,file_name = af.ftype(fname)
-    except Exception:
-        raise # for now
-    if file_type == 'bs':
-        input_type = 'bs'
-    elif file_type == 'pool':
-        import PyUtils.PoolFile as pf
-        stream_names = pf.extract_stream_names(fname)
-        stream_names = [s.lower() for s in stream_names]
-        if len(stream_names) > 1:
-            msg.warning('got many stream names: %r', stream_names)
-            msg.warning('only considering the 1st one...')
-        elif len(stream_names) <= 0:
-            msg.warning('got an empty list of stream names')
-            raise SystemExit(1)
-        stream_name = stream_names[0]
-        input_type = {
-            'stream1':    'rdo',
-            'streamesd' : 'esd',
-            'streamaod' : 'aod',
-            # FIXME: TODO: TAG, DPD
-            }.get(stream_name, 'aod')
-
-    else:
-        msg.error('unknown file type (%s) for file [%s]',
-                  file_type, file_name)
-    return input_type
-
-
 ### exec at import ------------------------------------------------------------
 import sys
 sys.modules[ __name__ ] = ModuleFacade( sys.modules[ __name__ ] )
diff --git a/Tools/PyUtils/python/PoolFile.py b/Tools/PyUtils/python/PoolFile.py
index 3c72c82c77f15cf558a148a4db39b6be5a1e1ed1..4cfba2fef57f06e879dca288733e9601982e58bc 100644
--- a/Tools/PyUtils/python/PoolFile.py
+++ b/Tools/PyUtils/python/PoolFile.py
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ __author__  = "Sebastien Binet <binet@cern.ch>"
 ### --- data ------------------------------------------------------------------
 __all__ = [
     'PoolFileCatalog',
-    'extract_stream_names',
     'PoolOpts',
     'extract_items',
     'PoolRecord',
@@ -244,22 +243,6 @@ class PoolFileCatalog(object):
     
     pass
 
-def extract_stream_names(fname):
-    """find the stream names ('StreamESD', 'StreamAOD',...) contained in a
-       given POOL file
-    @params:
-     `fname`     the filename of the POOL file to inspect (can be LFN or PFN)
-
-    example:
-     >>> import PyUtils.PoolFile as pf
-     >>> streams = pf.extract_stream_names ('ESD.pool.root')
-     >>> print streams
-     ['StreamESD']
-    """
-    import PyUtils.AthFile as af
-    f = af.fopen(fname)
-    return f.fileinfos['stream_names']
-
 class PoolOpts(object):
     # default names of APR file storage elements
     # copied here from RootUtils/APRDefaults.h for performance (as the first dictionary access takes 7 sec)
@@ -547,8 +530,7 @@ class PoolFile(object):
 
         # get the "final" file name (handles all kind of protocols)
         try:
-            import PyUtils.AthFile as af
-            protocol, fileName = af.server.fname(fileName)
+            protocol, fileName = _fname(fileName)
         except Exception as err:
             print("## warning: problem opening PoolFileCatalog:\n%s"%err)
             import traceback