diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/nvidia-x11/builder-legacy340.sh b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/nvidia-x11/builder-legacy340.sh
index 07cc1a85de0b..d0eec0f7403b 100755
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/nvidia-x11/builder-legacy340.sh
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/nvidia-x11/builder-legacy340.sh
@@ -107,6 +107,9 @@ installPhase() {
     #patchelf --set-rpath $out/lib:$glPath $out/lib/libvdpau_nvidia.so.*.*
     #patchelf --set-rpath $cudaPath $out/lib/libcuda.so.*.*
     #patchelf --set-rpath $openclPath $out/lib/libnvidia-opencl.so.*.*
+
+    # we distribute these separately in `libvdpau`
+    rm "$out"/lib/libvdpau{.*,_trace.*}
 }
 
 
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/nvidia-x11/builder.sh b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/nvidia-x11/builder.sh
index 1198208c9da8..ba65089a4f73 100755
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/nvidia-x11/builder.sh
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/nvidia-x11/builder.sh
@@ -122,6 +122,9 @@ installPhase() {
 
     # For simplicity and dependency reduction, don't support the gtk3 interface.
     rm $out/lib/libnvidia-gtk3.*
+
+    # we distribute these separately in `libvdpau`
+    rm "$out"/lib/libvdpau{.*,_trace.*}
 }