diff --git a/src/conf/nwfilter_conf.c b/src/conf/nwfilter_conf.c
index b69d9dbd8b..2352e606b4 100644
--- a/src/conf/nwfilter_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/nwfilter_conf.c
@@ -2775,7 +2775,7 @@ virNWFilterSaveXML(const char *configDir,
     char *configFile = NULL;
     int ret = -1;
 
-    if ((configFile = virNWFilterConfigFile(configDir, def->name)) == NULL)
+    if (!(configFile = virFileBuildPath(configDir, def->name, ".xml")))
         goto cleanup;
 
     if (virFileMakePath(configDir) < 0) {
@@ -3236,17 +3236,6 @@ virNWFilterDefFormat(const virNWFilterDef *def)
 }
 
 
-char *
-virNWFilterConfigFile(const char *dir,
-                      const char *name)
-{
-    char *ret = NULL;
-
-    ignore_value(virAsprintf(&ret, "%s/%s.xml", dir, name));
-    return ret;
-}
-
-
 int
 virNWFilterConfLayerInit(virDomainObjListIterator domUpdateCB,
                          void *opaque)
diff --git a/src/conf/nwfilter_conf.h b/src/conf/nwfilter_conf.h
index d8a5daf219..5bf9c3daae 100644
--- a/src/conf/nwfilter_conf.h
+++ b/src/conf/nwfilter_conf.h
@@ -593,10 +593,6 @@ int
 virNWFilterSaveConfig(const char *configDir,
                       virNWFilterDefPtr def);
 
-char *
-virNWFilterConfigFile(const char *dir,
-                      const char *name);
-
 virNWFilterDefPtr
 virNWFilterDefParseString(const char *xml);