diff --git a/src/libutil/archive.cc b/src/libutil/archive.cc
index 8fde4328c4..999b17cd2f 100644
--- a/src/libutil/archive.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/archive.cc
@@ -181,8 +181,6 @@ static void parseContents(ParseSink & sink, Source & source, const Path & path)
         left -= n;
     }
 
-    sink.finalizeContents(size);
-
     readPadding(size, source);
 }
 
@@ -317,12 +315,6 @@ struct RestoreSink : ParseSink
         writeFull(fd, data, len);
     }
 
-    void finalizeContents(unsigned long long size)
-    {
-        errno = ftruncate(fd, size);
-        if (errno) throw SysError(format("truncating file to its allocated length of %1% bytes") % size);
-    }
-
     void createSymlink(const Path & path, const string & target)
     {
         Path p = dstPath + path;
diff --git a/src/libutil/archive.hh b/src/libutil/archive.hh
index f358a2a6be..fff6203139 100644
--- a/src/libutil/archive.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/archive.hh
@@ -64,7 +64,6 @@ struct ParseSink
     virtual void isExecutable() { };
     virtual void preallocateContents(unsigned long long size) { };
     virtual void receiveContents(unsigned char * data, unsigned int len) { };
-    virtual void finalizeContents(unsigned long long size) { };
 
     virtual void createSymlink(const Path & path, const string & target) { };
 };