diff --git a/slic/utils/__init__.py b/slic/utils/__init__.py
index 84cdee4e3..1b961b823 100644
--- a/slic/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/slic/utils/__init__.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ from .marker import Marker, markers
 from .namespace import Namespace
 from .npy import nice_linspace, nice_arange, fraction_to_percentage, within, within_fraction, get_dtype, get_shape, is_array
 from .path import can_create_all_files, can_create_file, glob_files, make_missing_dir
+from .picklio import pickle, unpickle
 from .pv import PV
 from .readable import readable_seconds
 from .screenshot import Screenshot
diff --git a/slic/utils/picklio.py b/slic/utils/picklio.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8188e4eda
--- /dev/null
+++ b/slic/utils/picklio.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+import pickle as pkl
+
+
+def pickle(obj, fn):
+    with open(fn, "wb") as f:
+        pkl.dump(obj, f)
+
+def unpickle(fn):
+    with open(fn, "rb") as f:
+        return pkl.load(f)
+
+
+
diff --git a/slic/utils/pvpreload.py b/slic/utils/pvpreload.py
index 0953ef665..ab86b3799 100644
--- a/slic/utils/pvpreload.py
+++ b/slic/utils/pvpreload.py
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-import pickle as pkl
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta
 from pathlib import Path
 from threading import Thread
@@ -9,6 +8,7 @@ from logzero import logger as log
 
 from .utils import typename
 from .hastyepics import get_pv
+from .picklio import pickle, unpickle
 
 
 fn = ".slic_pvpreload"
@@ -64,13 +64,4 @@ def file_age(fn):
     return delta
 
 
-def pickle(obj, fn):
-    with open(fn, "wb") as f:
-        pkl.dump(obj, f)
-
-def unpickle(fn):
-    with open(fn, "rb") as f:
-        return pkl.load(f)
-
-