diff --git a/taglib/toolkit/tdebug.cpp b/taglib/toolkit/tdebug.cpp
index 557baed6..d630791c 100644
--- a/taglib/toolkit/tdebug.cpp
+++ b/taglib/toolkit/tdebug.cpp
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@
 #include <config.h>
 #endif
 
+#if !defined(NDEBUG) || defined(TRACE_IN_RELEASE)
+
 #include "tdebug.h"
 #include "tstring.h"
 #include "tdebuglistener.h"
@@ -43,17 +45,11 @@ namespace TagLib
 
   void debug(const String &s)
   {
-#if !defined(NDEBUG) || defined(TRACE_IN_RELEASE)
-
     debugListener->printMessage("TagLib: " + s + "\n");
-
-#endif
   }
 
   void debugData(const ByteVector &v)
   {
-#if !defined(NDEBUG) || defined(TRACE_IN_RELEASE)
-
     for(size_t i = 0; i < v.size(); ++i)
     {
       std::string bits = std::bitset<8>(v[i]).to_string();
@@ -63,7 +59,7 @@ namespace TagLib
 
       debugListener->printMessage(msg);
     }
-
-#endif
   }
 }
+
+#endif
diff --git a/taglib/toolkit/tdebug.h b/taglib/toolkit/tdebug.h
index bd94d159..80d00d39 100644
--- a/taglib/toolkit/tdebug.h
+++ b/taglib/toolkit/tdebug.h
@@ -32,10 +32,11 @@ namespace TagLib {
   class ByteVector;
 
 #ifndef DO_NOT_DOCUMENT
+#if !defined(NDEBUG) || defined(TRACE_IN_RELEASE)
 
   /*!
-   * A simple function that outputs the debug messages to the listener. 
-   * The default listener redirects the messages to \a stderr when NDEBUG is 
+   * A simple function that outputs the debug messages to the listener.
+   * The default listener redirects the messages to \a stderr when NDEBUG is
    * not defined.
    *
    * \warning Do not use this outside of TagLib, it could lead to undefined
@@ -45,7 +46,7 @@ namespace TagLib {
    * \internal
    */
   void debug(const String &s);
-  
+
   /*!
    * For debugging binary data.
    *
@@ -56,6 +57,13 @@ namespace TagLib {
    * \internal
    */
   void debugData(const ByteVector &v);
+
+#else
+
+  #define debug(x)      ((void)0)
+  #define debugData(x)  ((void)0)
+
+#endif
 }
 
 #endif