diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
deleted file mode 100644
index a0d6ffee..00000000
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-include pytorch3d/datasets/shapenet/shapenet_synset_dict_v1.json
-include pytorch3d/datasets/shapenet/shapenet_synset_dict_v2.json
-include pytorch3d/datasets/r2n2/r2n2_synset_dict.json
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 18f04292..6a1f762f 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -146,5 +146,7 @@ setup(
     },
     ext_modules=get_extensions(),
     cmdclass={"build_ext": BuildExtension},
-    include_package_data=True,
+    package_data={
+        "": ["*.json"],
+    },
 )