diff --git a/modules/imgcodecs/include/opencv2/imgcodecs/imgcodecs_c.h b/modules/imgcodecs/include/opencv2/imgcodecs/imgcodecs_c.h
deleted file mode 100644
index c78b3f72fa..0000000000
--- a/modules/imgcodecs/include/opencv2/imgcodecs/imgcodecs_c.h
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-#error "This header with legacy C API declarations has been removed from OpenCV. Legacy constants are available from legacy/constants_c.h file."
diff --git a/modules/imgcodecs/include/opencv2/imgcodecs/legacy/constants_c.h b/modules/imgcodecs/include/opencv2/imgcodecs/legacy/constants_c.h
deleted file mode 100644
index de7be4f74d..0000000000
--- a/modules/imgcodecs/include/opencv2/imgcodecs/legacy/constants_c.h
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,54 +0,0 @@
-// This file is part of OpenCV project.
-// It is subject to the license terms in the LICENSE file found in the top-level directory
-// of this distribution and at http://opencv.org/license.html.
-
-#ifndef OPENCV_IMGCODECS_LEGACY_CONSTANTS_H
-#define OPENCV_IMGCODECS_LEGACY_CONSTANTS_H
-
-/* duplicate of "ImreadModes" enumeration for better compatibility with OpenCV 3.x */
-enum
-{
-/* 8bit, color or not */
-    CV_LOAD_IMAGE_UNCHANGED  =-1,
-/* 8bit, gray */
-    CV_LOAD_IMAGE_GRAYSCALE  =0,
-/* ?, color */
-    CV_LOAD_IMAGE_COLOR      =1,
-/* any depth, ? */
-    CV_LOAD_IMAGE_ANYDEPTH   =2,
-/* ?, any color */
-    CV_LOAD_IMAGE_ANYCOLOR   =4,
-/* ?, no rotate */
-    CV_LOAD_IMAGE_IGNORE_ORIENTATION  =128
-};
-
-/* duplicate of "ImwriteFlags" enumeration for better compatibility with OpenCV 3.x */
-enum
-{
-    CV_IMWRITE_JPEG_QUALITY =1,
-    CV_IMWRITE_JPEG_PROGRESSIVE =2,
-    CV_IMWRITE_JPEG_OPTIMIZE =3,
-    CV_IMWRITE_JPEG_RST_INTERVAL =4,
-    CV_IMWRITE_JPEG_LUMA_QUALITY =5,
-    CV_IMWRITE_JPEG_CHROMA_QUALITY =6,
-    CV_IMWRITE_PNG_COMPRESSION =16,
-    CV_IMWRITE_PNG_STRATEGY =17,
-    CV_IMWRITE_PNG_BILEVEL =18,
-    CV_IMWRITE_PNG_STRATEGY_DEFAULT =0,
-    CV_IMWRITE_PNG_STRATEGY_FILTERED =1,
-    CV_IMWRITE_PNG_STRATEGY_HUFFMAN_ONLY =2,
-    CV_IMWRITE_PNG_STRATEGY_RLE =3,
-    CV_IMWRITE_PNG_STRATEGY_FIXED =4,
-    CV_IMWRITE_PXM_BINARY =32,
-    CV_IMWRITE_EXR_TYPE = 48,
-    CV_IMWRITE_WEBP_QUALITY =64,
-    CV_IMWRITE_PAM_TUPLETYPE = 128,
-    CV_IMWRITE_PAM_FORMAT_NULL = 0,
-    CV_IMWRITE_PAM_FORMAT_BLACKANDWHITE = 1,
-    CV_IMWRITE_PAM_FORMAT_GRAYSCALE = 2,
-    CV_IMWRITE_PAM_FORMAT_GRAYSCALE_ALPHA = 3,
-    CV_IMWRITE_PAM_FORMAT_RGB = 4,
-    CV_IMWRITE_PAM_FORMAT_RGB_ALPHA = 5,
-};
-
-#endif // OPENCV_IMGCODECS_LEGACY_CONSTANTS_H