diff --git a/include/villas/formats/msg_format.h b/include/villas/formats/msg_format.h
index 029cf5210..ed73c9953 100644
--- a/include/villas/formats/msg_format.h
+++ b/include/villas/formats/msg_format.h
@@ -43,10 +43,9 @@
 #define MSG_DATA_OFFSET(msg)	((char *) (msg) + offsetof(struct msg, data))
 
 /** The timestamp of a message in struct timespec format */
-#define MSG_TS(msg) (struct timespec) {	\
-	.tv_sec  = (msg)->ts.sec,	\
-	.tv_nsec = (msg)->ts.nsec	\
-}
+#define MSG_TS(msg, i)  \
+	i.tv_sec  = (msg)->ts.sec;	\
+	i.tv_nsec = (msg)->ts.nsec;
 
 /** This message format is used by all clients
  *
diff --git a/lib/formats/msg.cpp b/lib/formats/msg.cpp
index 048c38bdb..73a452f72 100644
--- a/lib/formats/msg.cpp
+++ b/lib/formats/msg.cpp
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ int msg_to_sample(struct msg *msg, struct sample *smp, struct vlist *signals)
 	smp->flags = SAMPLE_HAS_TS_ORIGIN | SAMPLE_HAS_SEQUENCE | SAMPLE_HAS_DATA;
 	smp->length = MIN(msg->length, smp->capacity);
 	smp->sequence = msg->sequence;
-	smp->ts.origin = MSG_TS(msg);
+	MSG_TS(msg, smp->ts.origin);
 
 	for (unsigned i = 0; i < MIN(smp->length, vlist_length(signals)); i++) {
 		struct signal *sig = (struct signal *) vlist_at(signals, i);