diff --git a/libs/ardour/ardour/sndfile_helpers.h b/libs/ardour/ardour/sndfile_helpers.h
index 02f486a975..b475b082be 100644
--- a/libs/ardour/ardour/sndfile_helpers.h
+++ b/libs/ardour/ardour/sndfile_helpers.h
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@
 #include <string>
 #include <stdint.h>
 
+#include "ardour/types.h"
+
 // Use this define when initializing arrarys for use in sndfile_*_format()
 #define SNDFILE_STR_LENGTH 32
 
@@ -47,6 +49,7 @@ int sndfile_header_format_by_index (int);
 int sndfile_endian_format_by_index (int);
 
 int sndfile_data_width (int format);
+int sndfile_data_width (ARDOUR::SampleFormat);
 
 // It'd be nice if libsndfile did this for us
 std::string sndfile_major_format (int);
diff --git a/libs/ardour/sndfile_helpers.cc b/libs/ardour/sndfile_helpers.cc
index 2e618e043b..e3e80b48e5 100644
--- a/libs/ardour/sndfile_helpers.cc
+++ b/libs/ardour/sndfile_helpers.cc
@@ -140,6 +140,19 @@ sndfile_data_width (int format)
 	}
 }
 
+int
+sndfile_data_width (ARDOUR::SampleFormat format)
+{
+	switch (format) {
+	case ARDOUR::FormatInt16:
+		return sndfile_data_width (SF_FORMAT_PCM_16);
+	case ARDOUR::FormatInt24:
+		return sndfile_data_width (SF_FORMAT_PCM_24);
+	default:
+		return sndfile_data_width (SF_FORMAT_FLOAT);
+	}
+}
+
 string
 sndfile_major_format(int format)
 {