diff --git a/syft/format/encoder.go b/syft/format/encoder.go
index 46e1d3b75..ab712c654 100644
--- a/syft/format/encoder.go
+++ b/syft/format/encoder.go
@@ -8,15 +8,4 @@ import (
 	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/source"
 )
 
-// TODO: this should probably be a helper function to return the bytes
-//func using() {
-//	var buff bytes.Buffer
-//	var encoder Encoder // = ...
-//
-//	_:=encoder(&buff, nil, nil, nil)
-//
-//	bytes.NewReader(buff.Bytes())
-//
-//}
-
 type Encoder func(io.Writer, *pkg.Catalog, *source.Metadata, *distro.Distro) error