diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 28a01e7183..2424dcb1f8 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ AC_CHECK_FUNC(socket,,[AC_CHECK_LIB(socket,socket)])
 AC_CHECK_FUNC(gethostbyname,,[AC_CHECK_LIB(nsl,gethostbyname)])
 
 dnl GLib is required
-GLIB_REQ=2.32.0
+GLIB_REQ=2.40.0
 AG_GST_GLIB_CHECK([$GLIB_REQ])
 
 dnl checks for gstreamer
diff --git a/ext/hls/m3u8.c b/ext/hls/m3u8.c
index b931749fa8..929e1d7976 100644
--- a/ext/hls/m3u8.c
+++ b/ext/hls/m3u8.c
@@ -30,25 +30,6 @@
 
 #define GST_CAT_DEFAULT fragmented_debug
 
-#if !GLIB_CHECK_VERSION (2, 33, 4)
-#define g_list_copy_deep gst_g_list_copy_deep
-static GList *
-gst_g_list_copy_deep (GList * list, GCopyFunc func, gpointer user_data)
-{
-  list = g_list_copy (list);
-
-  if (func != NULL) {
-    GList *l;
-
-    for (l = list; l != NULL; l = l->next) {
-      l->data = func (l->data, user_data);
-    }
-  }
-
-  return list;
-}
-#endif
-
 static GstM3U8 *gst_m3u8_new (void);
 static void gst_m3u8_free (GstM3U8 * m3u8);
 static gboolean gst_m3u8_update (GstM3U8Client * client, GstM3U8 * m3u8,
diff --git a/ext/libde265/libde265-dec.c b/ext/libde265/libde265-dec.c
index 7cba37a16a..e11f12c115 100644
--- a/ext/libde265/libde265-dec.c
+++ b/ext/libde265/libde265-dec.c
@@ -41,58 +41,6 @@
 
 #include "libde265-dec.h"
 
-#if !GLIB_CHECK_VERSION(2, 36, 0)
-#include <stdio.h>
-#ifdef HAVE_UNISTD_H
-#include <unistd.h>
-#endif
-#ifdef G_OS_WIN32
-#include <windows.h>
-#endif
-#define g_get_num_processors gst_g_get_num_processors
-static guint
-gst_g_get_num_processors (void)
-{
-  guint threads = 0;
-
-#if defined(_SC_NPROC_ONLN)
-  threads = sysconf (_SC_NPROC_ONLN);
-#elif defined(_SC_NPROCESSORS_ONLN)
-  threads = sysconf (_SC_NPROCESSORS_ONLN);
-#elif defined(G_OS_WIN32)
-  {
-    SYSTEM_INFO sysinfo;
-    DWORD_PTR process_cpus;
-    DWORD_PTR system_cpus;
-
-    /* This *never* fails, but doesn't take CPU affinity into account */
-    GetSystemInfo (&sysinfo);
-    threads = (int) sysinfo.dwNumberOfProcessors;
-
-    /* This *can* fail, but produces correct results if affinity mask is used,
-     * unlike the simpler code above.
-     */
-    if (GetProcessAffinityMask (GetCurrentProcess (),
-            &process_cpus, &system_cpus)) {
-      unsigned int count;
-
-      for (count = 0; process_cpus != 0; process_cpus >>= 1)
-        if (process_cpus & 1)
-          count++;
-    }
-  }
-#else
-#warning "Don't know how to get number of CPU cores, will use the default thread count"
-  threads = DEFAULT_THREAD_COUNT;
-#endif
-
-  if (threads > 0)
-    return threads;
-
-  return 1;
-}
-#endif /* !GLIB_CHECK_VERSION(2, 36, 0) */
-
 /* use two decoder threads if no information about
  * available CPU cores can be retrieved */
 #define DEFAULT_THREAD_COUNT        2
diff --git a/gst-libs/gst/glib-compat-private.h b/gst-libs/gst/glib-compat-private.h
index c96c005f54..1a4aa7d6b2 100644
--- a/gst-libs/gst/glib-compat-private.h
+++ b/gst-libs/gst/glib-compat-private.h
@@ -27,114 +27,6 @@
 
 G_BEGIN_DECLS
 
-#if !GLIB_CHECK_VERSION(2,25,0)
-
-#if defined (_MSC_VER) && !defined(_WIN64)
-typedef struct _stat32 GStatBuf;
-#else
-typedef struct stat GStatBuf;
-#endif
-
-#endif
-
-#if GLIB_CHECK_VERSION(2,26,0)
-#define GLIB_HAS_GDATETIME
-#endif
-
-/* See bug #651514 */
-#if GLIB_CHECK_VERSION(2,29,5)
-#define G_ATOMIC_POINTER_COMPARE_AND_EXCHANGE(a,b,c) \
-    g_atomic_pointer_compare_and_exchange ((a),(b),(c))
-#define G_ATOMIC_INT_COMPARE_AND_EXCHANGE(a,b,c) \
-    g_atomic_int_compare_and_exchange ((a),(b),(c))
-#else
-#define G_ATOMIC_POINTER_COMPARE_AND_EXCHANGE(a,b,c) \
-    g_atomic_pointer_compare_and_exchange ((volatile gpointer *)(a),(b),(c))
-#define G_ATOMIC_INT_COMPARE_AND_EXCHANGE(a,b,c) \
-    g_atomic_int_compare_and_exchange ((volatile int *)(a),(b),(c))
-#endif
-
-/* See bug #651514 */
-#if GLIB_CHECK_VERSION(2,29,5)
-#define G_ATOMIC_INT_ADD(a,b) g_atomic_int_add ((a),(b))
-#else
-#define G_ATOMIC_INT_ADD(a,b) g_atomic_int_exchange_and_add ((a),(b))
-#endif
-
-/* copies */
-
-#if GLIB_CHECK_VERSION (2, 31, 0)
-#define g_mutex_new gst_g_mutex_new
-static inline GMutex *
-gst_g_mutex_new (void)
-{
-  GMutex *mutex = g_slice_new (GMutex);
-  g_mutex_init (mutex);
-  return mutex;
-}
-#define g_mutex_free gst_g_mutex_free
-static inline void
-gst_g_mutex_free (GMutex *mutex)
-{
-  g_mutex_clear (mutex);
-  g_slice_free (GMutex, mutex);
-}
-#define g_cond_new gst_g_cond_new
-static inline GCond *
-gst_g_cond_new (void)
-{
-  GCond *cond = g_slice_new (GCond);
-  g_cond_init (cond);
-  return cond;
-}
-#define g_cond_free gst_g_cond_free
-static inline void
-gst_g_cond_free (GCond *cond)
-{
-  g_cond_clear (cond);
-  g_slice_free (GCond, cond);
-}
-#define g_cond_timed_wait gst_g_cond_timed_wait
-static inline gboolean
-gst_g_cond_timed_wait (GCond *cond, GMutex *mutex, GTimeVal *abs_time)
-{
-  gint64 end_time;
-
-  if (abs_time == NULL) {
-    g_cond_wait (cond, mutex);
-    return TRUE;
-  }
-
-  end_time = abs_time->tv_sec;
-  end_time *= 1000000;
-  end_time += abs_time->tv_usec;
-
-  /* would be nice if we had clock_rtoffset, but that didn't seem to
-   * make it into the kernel yet...
-   */
-  /* if CLOCK_MONOTONIC is not defined then g_get_montonic_time() and
-   * g_get_real_time() are returning the same clock and we'd add ~0
-   */
-  end_time += g_get_monotonic_time () - g_get_real_time ();
-  return g_cond_wait_until (cond, mutex, end_time);
-}
-#endif /* GLIB_CHECK_VERSION (2, 31, 0) */
-
-#if GLIB_CHECK_VERSION (2, 31, 0)
-#define g_thread_create gst_g_thread_create
-static inline GThread *
-gst_g_thread_create (GThreadFunc func, gpointer data, gboolean joinable,
-    GError **error)
-{
-  GThread *thread = g_thread_try_new ("gst-check", func, data, error);
-  if (!joinable)
-    g_thread_unref (thread);
-  return thread;
-}
-#endif /* GLIB_CHECK_VERSION (2, 31, 0) */
-
-/* adaptations */
-
 G_END_DECLS
 
 #endif
diff --git a/gst/videomeasure/gstvideomeasure_ssim.c b/gst/videomeasure/gstvideomeasure_ssim.c
index e85d68fbe0..13ba0358b9 100644
--- a/gst/videomeasure/gstvideomeasure_ssim.c
+++ b/gst/videomeasure/gstvideomeasure_ssim.c
@@ -1176,11 +1176,7 @@ gst_ssim_request_new_pad (GstElement * element, GstPadTemplate * templ,
     goto could_not_add_sink;
   else
     /* increment pad counter */
-#if GLIB_CHECK_VERSION(2,29,5)
     padcount = g_atomic_int_add (&ssim->padcount, 1);
-#else
-    padcount = g_atomic_int_exchange_and_add (&ssim->padcount, 1);
-#endif
 
   if (num != -1) {
     GstSSimOutputContext *c;