diff --git a/libass/ass_shaper.c b/libass/ass_shaper.c
index ffcb36b..849b55f 100644
--- a/libass/ass_shaper.c
+++ b/libass/ass_shaper.c
@@ -81,8 +81,7 @@ struct ass_shaper_font_data {
  */
 void ass_shaper_info(ASS_Library *lib)
 {
-    ass_msg(lib, MSGL_INFO, "Shaper: FriBidi "
-            FRIBIDI_VERSION " (SIMPLE)"
+    ass_msg(lib, MSGL_INFO, "Shaper: "
             " HarfBuzz-ng %s (COMPLEX)", hb_version_string()
            );
 }
@@ -686,8 +685,7 @@ static bool shape_harfbuzz(ASS_Shaper *shaper, GlyphInfo *glyphs, size_t len)
         hb_buffer_add_utf32(buf, shaper->event_text + offset, i - offset + 1,
                 0, i - offset + 1);
 
-        props.direction = FRIBIDI_LEVEL_IS_RTL(level) ?
-            HB_DIRECTION_RTL : HB_DIRECTION_LTR;
+        props.direction = HB_DIRECTION_LTR;
         props.script = glyphs[offset].script;
         props.language  = hb_shaper_get_run_language(shaper, props.script);
         hb_buffer_set_segment_properties(buf, &props);
@@ -754,33 +752,6 @@ void ass_shaper_determine_script(ASS_Shaper *shaper, GlyphInfo *glyphs,
     }
 }
 
-/**
- * \brief Shape event text with FriBidi. Does mirroring and simple
- * Arabic shaping.
- * \param len number of clusters
- */
-static void shape_fribidi(ASS_Shaper *shaper, GlyphInfo *glyphs, size_t len)
-{
-    int i;
-    FriBidiJoiningType *joins = calloc(sizeof(*joins), len);
-
-    // shape on codepoint level
-    fribidi_get_joining_types(shaper->event_text, len, joins);
-    fribidi_join_arabic(shaper->ctypes, len, shaper->emblevels, joins);
-    fribidi_shape(FRIBIDI_FLAGS_DEFAULT | FRIBIDI_FLAGS_ARABIC,
-            shaper->emblevels, len, joins, shaper->event_text);
-
-    // update indexes
-    for (i = 0; i < len; i++) {
-        GlyphInfo *info = glyphs + i;
-        FT_Face face = info->font->faces[info->face_index];
-        info->symbol = shaper->event_text[i];
-        info->glyph_index = FT_Get_Char_Index(face, ass_font_index_magic(face, shaper->event_text[i]));
-    }
-
-    free(joins);
-}
-
 /**
  * \brief Toggle kerning for HarfBuzz shaping.
  * \param shaper shaper instance
@@ -864,33 +835,6 @@ void ass_shaper_set_bidi_brackets(ASS_Shaper *shaper, bool match_brackets)
 }
 #endif
 
-/**
-  * \brief Remove all zero-width invisible characters from the text.
-  * \param text_info text
-  */
-static void ass_shaper_skip_characters(TextInfo *text_info)
-{
-    int i;
-    GlyphInfo *glyphs = text_info->glyphs;
-
-    for (i = 0; i < text_info->length; i++) {
-        // Skip direction override control characters
-        if ((glyphs[i].symbol <= 0x202e && glyphs[i].symbol >= 0x202a)
-                || (glyphs[i].symbol <= 0x200f && glyphs[i].symbol >= 0x200b)
-                || (glyphs[i].symbol <= 0x206f && glyphs[i].symbol >= 0x2060)
-                || (glyphs[i].symbol <= 0xfe0f && glyphs[i].symbol >= 0xfe00)
-                || (glyphs[i].symbol <= 0xe01ef && glyphs[i].symbol >= 0xe0100)
-                || (glyphs[i].symbol <= 0x180f && glyphs[i].symbol >= 0x180b)
-                || glyphs[i].symbol == 0x061c
-                || glyphs[i].symbol == 0xfeff
-                || glyphs[i].symbol == 0x00ad
-                || glyphs[i].symbol == 0x034f) {
-            glyphs[i].symbol = 0;
-            glyphs[i].skip = true;
-        }
-    }
-}
-
 /**
  * \brief Shape an event's text. Calculates directional runs and shapes them.
  * \param text_info event's text
@@ -898,52 +842,18 @@ static void ass_shaper_skip_characters(TextInfo *text_info)
  */
 bool ass_shaper_shape(ASS_Shaper *shaper, TextInfo *text_info)
 {
-    int i, ret, last_break;
-    FriBidiParType dir;
+    int i;
     GlyphInfo *glyphs = text_info->glyphs;
 
     if (!check_allocations(shaper, text_info->length))
         return false;
 
     // Get bidi character types and embedding levels
-    last_break = 0;
     for (i = 0; i < text_info->length; i++) {
         shaper->event_text[i] = glyphs[i].symbol;
-        // embedding levels should be calculated paragraph by paragraph
-        if (glyphs[i].symbol == '\n' || i == text_info->length - 1) {
-            dir = shaper->base_direction;
-            fribidi_get_bidi_types(shaper->event_text + last_break,
-                    i - last_break + 1, shaper->ctypes + last_break);
-#ifdef USE_FRIBIDI_EX_API
-            FriBidiBracketType *btypes = NULL;
-            if (shaper->bidi_brackets) {
-                btypes = shaper->btypes + last_break;
-                fribidi_get_bracket_types(shaper->event_text + last_break,
-                        i - last_break + 1, shaper->ctypes + last_break,
-                        btypes);
-            }
-            ret = fribidi_get_par_embedding_levels_ex(
-                    shaper->ctypes + last_break, btypes,
-                    i - last_break + 1, &dir, shaper->emblevels + last_break);
-#else
-            ret = fribidi_get_par_embedding_levels(shaper->ctypes + last_break,
-                    i - last_break + 1, &dir, shaper->emblevels + last_break);
-#endif
-            if (ret == 0)
-                return false;
-            last_break = i + 1;
-        }
     }
 
-    switch (shaper->shaping_level) {
-    case ASS_SHAPING_SIMPLE:
-        shape_fribidi(shaper, glyphs, text_info->length);
-        ass_shaper_skip_characters(text_info);
-        return true;
-    case ASS_SHAPING_COMPLEX:
-    default:
-        return shape_harfbuzz(shaper, glyphs, text_info->length);
-    }
+    return shape_harfbuzz(shaper, glyphs, text_info->length);
 }
 
 /**
@@ -955,7 +865,7 @@ ASS_Shaper *ass_shaper_new(void)
     if (!shaper)
         return NULL;
 
-    shaper->base_direction = FRIBIDI_PAR_ON;
+    shaper->base_direction = 0;
 
     if (!init_features(shaper))
         goto error;
@@ -998,25 +908,12 @@ void ass_shaper_cleanup(ASS_Shaper *shaper, TextInfo *text_info)
  */
 FriBidiStrIndex *ass_shaper_reorder(ASS_Shaper *shaper, TextInfo *text_info)
 {
-    int i, ret;
+    int i;
 
     // Initialize reorder map
     for (i = 0; i < text_info->length; i++)
         shaper->cmap[i] = i;
 
-    // Create reorder map line-by-line
-    for (i = 0; i < text_info->n_lines; i++) {
-        LineInfo *line = text_info->lines + i;
-        FriBidiParType dir = FRIBIDI_PAR_ON;
-
-        ret = fribidi_reorder_line(0,
-                shaper->ctypes + line->offset, line->len, 0, dir,
-                shaper->emblevels + line->offset, NULL,
-                shaper->cmap + line->offset);
-        if (ret == 0)
-            return NULL;
-    }
-
     return shaper->cmap;
 }
 
@@ -1034,10 +931,5 @@ FriBidiStrIndex *ass_shaper_get_reorder_map(ASS_Shaper *shaper)
  */
 FriBidiParType resolve_base_direction(int enc)
 {
-    switch (enc) {
-        case -1:
-            return FRIBIDI_PAR_ON;
-        default:
-            return FRIBIDI_PAR_LTR;
-    }
+    return 0;
 }
diff --git a/libass/ass_shaper.h b/libass/ass_shaper.h
index 70bec9a..c0ff055 100644
--- a/libass/ass_shaper.h
+++ b/libass/ass_shaper.h
@@ -21,13 +21,14 @@
 
 typedef struct ass_shaper ASS_Shaper;
 
-#include <fribidi.h>
 #include <stdbool.h>
 #include "ass_render.h"
 
-#if FRIBIDI_MAJOR_VERSION >= 1
-#define USE_FRIBIDI_EX_API
-#endif
+typedef uint32_t FriBidiChar;
+typedef uint32_t FriBidiCharType;
+typedef int FriBidiStrIndex;
+typedef int FriBidiParType;
+typedef signed char FriBidiLevel;
 
 void ass_shaper_info(ASS_Library *lib);
 ASS_Shaper *ass_shaper_new(void);