diff --git a/include/villas/formats/msg_format.h b/include/villas/formats/msg_format.h
index b0f85acd7..1d7aaecc0 100644
--- a/include/villas/formats/msg_format.h
+++ b/include/villas/formats/msg_format.h
@@ -46,13 +46,6 @@ extern "C" {
 /** The offset to the first data value in a message. */
 #define MSG_DATA_OFFSET(msg)	((char *) (msg) + offsetof(struct msg, data))
 
-/** Initialize a message with default values */
-#define MSG_INIT(len, seq, i) \
-	i->type     = MSG_TYPE_DATA;	\
-	i->version  = MSG_VERSION;	\
-	i->length   = (uint16_t) (len);	\
-	i->sequence = (uint32_t) (seq);
-
 /** The timestamp of a message in struct timespec format */
 #define MSG_TS(msg) (struct timespec) {	\
 	.tv_sec  = (msg)->ts.sec,	\
diff --git a/lib/formats/msg.cpp b/lib/formats/msg.cpp
index 7ba65561b..497a01295 100644
--- a/lib/formats/msg.cpp
+++ b/lib/formats/msg.cpp
@@ -108,8 +108,10 @@ int msg_to_sample(struct msg *msg, struct sample *smp, struct vlist *signals)
 
 int msg_from_sample(struct msg *msgIn, struct sample *smp, struct vlist *signals)
 {
-	MSG_INIT(smp->length, smp->sequence, msgIn);
-
+	msgIn->type     = MSG_TYPE_DATA;
+	msgIn->version  = MSG_VERSION;
+	msgIn->length   = (uint16_t) smp->length;
+	msgIn->sequence = (uint32_t) smp->sequence;
 	msgIn->ts.sec  = smp->ts.origin.tv_sec;
 	msgIn->ts.nsec = smp->ts.origin.tv_nsec;