diff --git a/apps/converter/__init__.py b/apps/converter/__init__.py
index 6f1785f4f6..802a4e05e3 100644
--- a/apps/converter/__init__.py
+++ b/apps/converter/__init__.py
@@ -1,19 +1,9 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 
-from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
-
 from navigation.api import register_sidebar_template
 from project_tools.api import register_tool
 
-from .utils import load_backend
 from .links import formats_list
-from .settings import GRAPHICS_BACKEND
 
 register_sidebar_template(['formats_list'], 'converter_file_formats_help.html')
-
-try:
-    backend = load_backend().ConverterClass()
-except ImproperlyConfigured:
-    raise ImproperlyConfigured(u'Missing or incorrect converter backend: %s' % GRAPHICS_BACKEND)
-
 register_tool(formats_list)
diff --git a/apps/converter/api.py b/apps/converter/api.py
index 79957d6f5b..d7feaee9d1 100644
--- a/apps/converter/api.py
+++ b/apps/converter/api.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ from mimetype.api import get_mimetype
 
 from .literals import (DEFAULT_PAGE_NUMBER,
     DEFAULT_ZOOM_LEVEL, DEFAULT_ROTATION, DEFAULT_FILE_FORMAT)
-from . import backend
+from .runtime import backend
 from .literals import (TRANSFORMATION_CHOICES, TRANSFORMATION_RESIZE,
     TRANSFORMATION_ROTATE, TRANSFORMATION_ZOOM, DIMENSION_SEPARATOR,
     FILE_FORMATS)
diff --git a/apps/converter/runtime.py b/apps/converter/runtime.py
index 9aad502667..06203d2c63 100644
--- a/apps/converter/runtime.py
+++ b/apps/converter/runtime.py
@@ -1,10 +1,18 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 
+from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
+
 from .office_converter import OfficeConverter
 from .exceptions import OfficeBackendError
-
+from .settings import GRAPHICS_BACKEND
+from .utils import load_backend
 
 try:
     office_converter = OfficeConverter()
 except OfficeBackendError:
     office_converter = None
+
+try:
+    backend = load_backend().ConverterClass()
+except ImproperlyConfigured:
+    raise ImproperlyConfigured(u'Missing or incorrect converter backend: %s' % GRAPHICS_BACKEND)
diff --git a/apps/converter/settings.py b/apps/converter/settings.py
deleted file mode 100644
index dd78f96b45..0000000000
--- a/apps/converter/settings.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,57 +0,0 @@
-"""Configuration options for the converter app"""
-
-from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
-
-from smart_settings import SettingsNamespace, LocalScope
-
-namespace = SettingsNamespace('converter', _(u'Converter'), module='converter.settings')
-
-namespace.add_setting(
-    name='IM_CONVERT_PATH',
-    default=u'/usr/bin/convert',
-    description=_(u'File path to imagemagick\'s convert program.'),
-    exists=True,
-    scopes=[LocalScope]
-)
-
-namespace.add_setting(
-    name='IM_IDENTIFY_PATH',
-    default=u'/usr/bin/identify',
-    description=_(u'File path to imagemagick\'s identify program.'),
-    exists=True,
-    scopes=[LocalScope]
-)
-
-namespace.add_setting(
-    name='GM_PATH',
-    default=u'/usr/bin/gm',
-    description=_(u'File path to graphicsmagick\'s program.'),
-    exists=True,
-    scopes=[LocalScope]
-)
-
-namespace.add_setting(
-    name='GM_SETTINGS',
-    default=u'',
-    description=_(u'Set of configuration options to pass to the GraphicsMagick executable to fine tune it\'s functionality as explained in the GraphicsMagick documentation.'),
-    scopes=[LocalScope]
-)
-
-namespace.add_setting(
-    name='GRAPHICS_BACKEND',
-    default=u'converter.backends.python',
-    description=_(u'Graphics conversion backend to use.  Options are: converter.backends.imagemagick, converter.backends.graphicsmagick and converter.backends.python.'),
-    scopes=[LocalScope]
-)
-
-namespace.add_setting(
-    name='LIBREOFFICE_PATH',
-    default=u'/usr/bin/libreoffice',
-    description=_(u'Path to the libreoffice program.'),
-    exists=True,
-    scopes=[LocalScope]
-)
-
-#{'name': u'OCR_OPTIONS', 'global_name': u'CONVERTER_OCR_OPTIONS', 'default': u'-colorspace Gray -depth 8 -resample 200x200'},
-#{'name': u'HIGH_QUALITY_OPTIONS', 'global_name': u'CONVERTER_HIGH_QUALITY_OPTIONS', 'default': u'-density 400'},
-#{'name': u'PRINT_QUALITY_OPTIONS', 'global_name': u'CONVERTER_PRINT_QUALITY_OPTIONS', 'default': u'-density 500'},