diff --git a/gstlal-burst/python/fxtools/feature_extractor.py b/gstlal-burst/python/fxtools/feature_extractor.py
index f697a2b624756cdc4e09ac410dd84a4f70c9a2be..fdb37fa1992c8064ffeb9ebb3268053eeddf509f 100644
--- a/gstlal-burst/python/fxtools/feature_extractor.py
+++ b/gstlal-burst/python/fxtools/feature_extractor.py
@@ -35,9 +35,6 @@ import StringIO
 import threading
 import shutil
 
-import h5py
-import numpy
-
 import gi
 gi.require_version('Gst', '1.0')
 from gi.repository import GObject, Gst
diff --git a/gstlal-burst/python/fxtools/utils.py b/gstlal-burst/python/fxtools/utils.py
index 3bc4016acacf7aacdb236a82b8898048462658cd..e5304efe2628a7b9da0e7989a485fc8e1fd7c3c5 100644
--- a/gstlal-burst/python/fxtools/utils.py
+++ b/gstlal-burst/python/fxtools/utils.py
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ class HDF5TimeseriesFeatureData(FeatureData):
 		self.sample_rate = kwargs['sample_rate']
 		self.waveform = kwargs['waveform']
 		self.metadata = dict(**kwargs)
-		self.dtype = [(column, '<f8') for column in self.columns]
+		self.dtype = [(column, numpy.float32) for column in self.columns]
 		self.feature_data = {key: numpy.empty((self.cadence * self.sample_rate,), dtype = self.dtype) for key in keys}
 		self.last_save_time = 0
 		self.clear()
@@ -322,7 +322,7 @@ class HDF5ETGFeatureData(FeatureData):
 		self.cadence = kwargs['cadence']
 		self.waveform = kwargs['waveform']
 		self.metadata = dict(**kwargs)
-		self.dtype = [(column, '<f8') for column in self.columns]
+		self.dtype = [(column, numpy.float32) for column in self.columns]
 		self.feature_data = {key: [] for key in keys}
 		self.clear()