diff --git a/lib/internal/crypto/util.js b/lib/internal/crypto/util.js
index cf044e804ad05a..51ca3f4c056fb9 100644
--- a/lib/internal/crypto/util.js
+++ b/lib/internal/crypto/util.js
@@ -75,11 +75,6 @@ const {
 const kHandle = Symbol('kHandle');
 const kKeyObject = Symbol('kKeyObject');
 
-// TODO(tniessen): remove all call sites and this function
-function getDefaultEncoding() {
-  return 'buffer';
-}
-
 // This is here because many functions accepted binary strings without
 // any explicit encoding in older versions of node, and we don't want
 // to break them unnecessarily.
@@ -555,7 +550,6 @@ module.exports = {
   getCiphers,
   getCurves,
   getDataViewOrTypedArrayBuffer,
-  getDefaultEncoding,
   getHashes,
   kHandle,
   kKeyObject,
diff --git a/lib/internal/streams/lazy_transform.js b/lib/internal/streams/lazy_transform.js
index d9d1407a819594..204ad456cd64b3 100644
--- a/lib/internal/streams/lazy_transform.js
+++ b/lib/internal/streams/lazy_transform.js
@@ -11,10 +11,6 @@ const {
 
 const stream = require('stream');
 
-const {
-  getDefaultEncoding,
-} = require('internal/crypto/util');
-
 module.exports = LazyTransform;
 
 function LazyTransform(options) {
@@ -29,7 +25,7 @@ function makeGetter(name) {
     this._writableState.decodeStrings = false;
 
     if (!this._options || !this._options.defaultEncoding) {
-      this._writableState.defaultEncoding = getDefaultEncoding();
+      this._writableState.defaultEncoding = 'buffer';  // TODO(tniessen): remove
     }
 
     return this[name];