diff --git a/cc3d.pyx b/cc3d.pyx
index 9a248be..f53f531 100644
--- a/cc3d.pyx
+++ b/cc3d.pyx
@@ -56,8 +56,6 @@ cnp.import_array()
 import numpy as np
 import time
 
-__VERSION__ = '3.12.4'
-
 cdef extern from "cc3d.hpp" namespace "cc3d":
   cdef size_t estimate_provisional_label_count[T](
     T* in_labels, int64_t sx, int64_t voxels,
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 52c1ec6..60eb3bc 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ def requirements():
 
 setuptools.setup(
   name="connected-components-3d",
-  version="3.16.1",
+  version="3.17.0",
   setup_requires=['pbr', 'numpy', 'cython'],
   install_requires=['numpy'],
   python_requires=">=3.8,<4.0",