diff --git a/Stream_support/doc/Stream_support/IOstream.txt b/Stream_support/doc/Stream_support/IOstream.txt
index ae74c0361be..f068650ad53 100644
--- a/Stream_support/doc/Stream_support/IOstream.txt
+++ b/Stream_support/doc/Stream_support/IOstream.txt
@@ -229,11 +229,6 @@ There are a 11 predefined `Color` constants available:
 `DEEPBLUE`, `BLUE`, `PURPLE`, `VIOLET`, `ORANGE`,
 and `YELLOW`.
 
-\section IOstreamManipulators Manipulators for IO of polyhedral surfaces.
-
-There exists plenty of file formats for polyhedral surfaces, which can be
-stored in a `Polyhedron` or a `Surface_mesh`. For the insert and extract
-operators \cgal provides manipulators such as `CGAL::IO::off`, `CGAL::IO:ply`. 
 
 
 \section IOstreamStream Stream Support
diff --git a/Stream_support/include/CGAL/IO/io.h b/Stream_support/include/CGAL/IO/io.h
index 4d93ed934ec..b928d059b66 100644
--- a/Stream_support/include/CGAL/IO/io.h
+++ b/Stream_support/include/CGAL/IO/io.h
@@ -54,50 +54,12 @@ public:
     return mode;
   }
 
-
-  static int get_file_format()
-  {
-    static const int file_format = std::ios::xalloc();
-    return file_format;
-  }
-
 };
 
   enum Mode {ASCII = 0, PRETTY, BINARY};
 
-  enum File_format {OFF = 0, COFF, PLY, OBJ, STL};
-
 }
 
-inline std::ios& off(std::ios& os)
-{
-  os.iword(IO::Static::get_file_format()) = IO::OFF;
-  return os;
-}
-
-
-inline std::ios& ply(std::ios& os)
-{
-  os.iword(IO::Static::get_file_format()) = IO::PLY;
-  return os;
-}
-
-inline std::ios& obj(std::ios& os)
-{
-  os.iword(IO::Static::get_file_format()) = IO::OBJ;
-  return os;
-}
-
-inline std::ios& stl(std::ios& os)
-{
-  os.iword(IO::Static::get_file_format()) = IO::STL;
-  return os;
-}
-
-inline   IO::File_format file_format(std::ios& os)
-{
-  return static_cast<IO::File_format>(os.iword(IO::Static::get_file_format()));
-}
 
 
 template <typename Dummy>