diff --git a/src/endian.h b/src/endian.h
index ea295ee5..327cc570 100644
--- a/src/endian.h
+++ b/src/endian.h
@@ -5,4 +5,14 @@ void memrev16(void *p);
 void memrev32(void *p);
 void memrev64(void *p);
 
+/* variants of the function doing the actual convertion only if the target
+ * host is big endian */
+#if (BYTE_ORDER == LITTLE_ENDIAN)
+#define memrev16ifbe(p)
+#define memrev32ifbe(p)
+#define memrev64ifbe(p)
+#else
+#define memrev16ifbe(p) memrev16(p)
+#define memrev32ifbe(p) memrev32(p)
+#define memrev64ifbe(p) memrev64(p)
 #endif