diff --git a/datasette/utils.py b/datasette/utils.py
index 56fe2996..58746be4 100644
--- a/datasette/utils.py
+++ b/datasette/utils.py
@@ -261,27 +261,6 @@ def escape_sqlite(s):
         return "[{}]".format(s)
 
 
-_decode_path_component_re = re.compile(r"U\+([\da-h]{4})", re.IGNORECASE)
-_encode_path_component_re = re.compile(
-    "[{}]".format(
-        "".join(
-            re.escape(c)
-            for c in (";", "/", "?", ":", "@", "&", "=", "+", "$", ",", "~")
-        )
-    )
-)
-
-
-def decode_path_component(table_name):
-    return _decode_path_component_re.sub(lambda m: chr(int(m.group(1), 16)), table_name)
-
-
-def encode_path_component(table_name):
-    return _encode_path_component_re.sub(
-        lambda m: "U+{0:0{1}x}".format(ord(m.group(0)), 4).upper(), table_name
-    )
-
-
 def make_dockerfile(
     files,
     metadata_file,
diff --git a/tests/test_utils.py b/tests/test_utils.py
index 73aee12a..a5f603e6 100644
--- a/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -381,19 +381,3 @@ def test_path_with_format(path, format, extra_qs, expected):
 )
 def test_format_bytes(bytes, expected):
     assert expected == utils.format_bytes(bytes)
-
-
-@pytest.mark.parametrize(
-    "name,expected",
-    [
-        ("table", "table"),
-        ("table/and/slashes", "tableU+002FandU+002Fslashes"),
-        ("~table", "U+007Etable"),
-        ("+bobcats!", "U+002Bbobcats!"),
-        ("U+007Etable", "UU+002B007Etable"),
-    ],
-)
-def test_encode_decode_path_component(name, expected):
-    encoded = utils.encode_path_component(name)
-    assert encoded == expected
-    assert name == utils.decode_path_component(encoded)