diff --git a/include/curl/curl.h b/include/curl/curl.h
index ff1341a56933349bbd6fd715f6250ca8999906f4..2f64a79df8249d13264a9324bd3bcb4c49a59560 100644
--- a/include/curl/curl.h
+++ b/include/curl/curl.h
@@ -507,7 +507,7 @@ CURLcode curl_global_init(long flags);
 void curl_global_cleanup(void);
 
 /* This is the version number */
-#define LIBCURL_VERSION "7.8.1-pre5"
+#define LIBCURL_VERSION "7.8.1"
 #define LIBCURL_VERSION_NUM 0x070801
 
 /* linked-list structure for the CURLOPT_QUOTE option (and other) */
diff --git a/src/version.h b/src/version.h
index 67b908e87cca856474d332fc03096ddeb484453c..54e9a285636bf8b4914e81e684465e83936fe87d 100644
--- a/src/version.h
+++ b/src/version.h
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 #define CURL_NAME "curl"
-#define CURL_VERSION "7.8.1-pre3"
+#define CURL_VERSION "7.8.1"
 #define CURL_ID CURL_NAME " " CURL_VERSION " (" OS ") "