diff --git a/misc/completion/ocrmypdf.bash b/misc/completion/ocrmypdf.bash
index b652769e..3683d8f7 100644
--- a/misc/completion/ocrmypdf.bash
+++ b/misc/completion/ocrmypdf.bash
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ _ocrmypdf()
             --sidecar --version --jobs --quiet --verbose --title --author
             --subject --keywords --rotate-pages --remove-background --deskew
             --clean --clean-final --unpaper-args --oversample --remove-vectors
-            --threshold --force-ocr --skip-text --redo-ocr
+            --force-ocr --skip-text --redo-ocr
             --skip-big --jpeg-quality --png-quality --jbig2-lossy
             --max-image-mpixels --tesseract-config --tesseract-pagesegmode
             --help --tesseract-oem --pdf-renderer --tesseract-timeout
diff --git a/misc/completion/ocrmypdf.fish b/misc/completion/ocrmypdf.fish
index d4bb76d3..fd1e54a0 100644
--- a/misc/completion/ocrmypdf.fish
+++ b/misc/completion/ocrmypdf.fish
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ complete -c ocrmypdf -s d -l deskew -d "fix small horizontal alignment skew"
 complete -c ocrmypdf -s c -l clean -d "clean document images before OCR"
 complete -c ocrmypdf -s i -l clean-final -d "clean document images and keep result"
 complete -c ocrmypdf -l remove-vectors -d "don't send vector objects to OCR"
-complete -c ocrmypdf -l threshold -d "threshold images before OCR"
 
 complete -c ocrmypdf -s f -l force-ocr -d "OCR documents that already have printable text"
 complete -c ocrmypdf -s s -l skip-ocr -d "skip OCR on pages that text, otherwise try OCR"
diff --git a/src/ocrmypdf/_pipeline.py b/src/ocrmypdf/_pipeline.py
index a5f6ba56..af603357 100644
--- a/src/ocrmypdf/_pipeline.py
+++ b/src/ocrmypdf/_pipeline.py
@@ -541,14 +541,6 @@ def create_ocr_image(image: Path, page_context: PageContext):
                 log.debug('blanking %r', pixcoords)
                 draw.rectangle(pixcoords, fill=white)
                 # draw.rectangle(pixcoords, outline=pink)
-
-        if options.threshold:
-            pix = leptonica.Pix.frompil(im)
-            pix = pix.masked_threshold_on_background_norm()
-            im_pix = pix.topil()
-            im_pix.info['dpi'] = im.info['dpi']
-            im = im_pix
-
         del draw
 
         filter_im = page_context.plugin_manager.hook.filter_ocr_image(
diff --git a/src/ocrmypdf/api.py b/src/ocrmypdf/api.py
index 8f731fa3..ac21ebb7 100644
--- a/src/ocrmypdf/api.py
+++ b/src/ocrmypdf/api.py
@@ -228,7 +228,6 @@ def ocr(  # pylint: disable=unused-argument
     unpaper_args: str = None,
     oversample: int = None,
     remove_vectors: bool = None,
-    threshold: bool = None,
     force_ocr: bool = None,
     skip_text: bool = None,
     redo_ocr: bool = None,
diff --git a/src/ocrmypdf/cli.py b/src/ocrmypdf/cli.py
index 87012321..7f01e0e9 100644
--- a/src/ocrmypdf/cli.py
+++ b/src/ocrmypdf/cli.py
@@ -287,14 +287,6 @@ Online documentation is located at:
         help="EXPERIMENTAL. Mask out any vector objects in the PDF so that they "
         "will not be included in OCR. This can eliminate false characters.",
     )
-    preprocessing.add_argument(
-        '--threshold',
-        action='store_true',
-        help=(
-            "EXPERIMENTAL. Threshold image to 1bpp before sending it to Tesseract "
-            "for OCR. Can improve OCR quality compared to Tesseract's thresholder."
-        ),
-    )
 
     ocrsettings = parser.add_argument_group("OCR options", "Control how OCR is applied")
     ocrsettings.add_argument(
diff --git a/tests/test_main.py b/tests/test_main.py
index 50081637..70359cdb 100644
--- a/tests/test_main.py
+++ b/tests/test_main.py
@@ -869,20 +869,6 @@ def test_image_dpi_not_image(caplog, resources, outpdf):
     assert '--image-dpi is being ignored' in caplog.text
 
 
-def test_image_dpi_threshold(resources, outpdf):
-    check_ocrmypdf(
-        resources / 'typewriter.png',
-        outpdf,
-        '--threshold',
-        '--image-dpi=170',
-        '--output-type=pdf',
-        '--optimize=0',
-        '--plugin',
-        'tests/plugins/tesseract_noop.py',
-    )
-    assert outpdf.exists()
-
-
 def test_outputtype_none_bad_setup(resources, outpdf):
     p, _out, err = run_ocrmypdf(
         resources / 'trivial.pdf',