diff --git a/docs/schemas/capability.rng b/docs/schemas/capability.rng
index c4cafc47ee..fb8203ad6d 100644
--- a/docs/schemas/capability.rng
+++ b/docs/schemas/capability.rng
@@ -157,16 +157,9 @@
 
       <optional>
         <element name="distances">
-          <zeroOrMore>
-            <element name="sibling">
-              <attribute name="id">
-                <ref name="unsignedInt"/>
-              </attribute>
-              <attribute name="value">
-                <ref name="unsignedInt"/>
-              </attribute>
-            </element>
-          </zeroOrMore>
+          <oneOrMore>
+            <ref name="numaDistance"/>
+          </oneOrMore>
         </element>
       </optional>
 
diff --git a/src/conf/capabilities.c b/src/conf/capabilities.c
index 926ecb5a24..1290c9c15d 100644
--- a/src/conf/capabilities.c
+++ b/src/conf/capabilities.c
@@ -349,7 +349,7 @@ virCapabilitiesHostNUMAAddCell(virCapsHostNUMA *caps,
                                int ncpus,
                                virCapsHostNUMACellCPU **cpus,
                                int ndistances,
-                               virCapsHostNUMACellDistance **distances,
+                               virNumaDistance **distances,
                                int npageinfo,
                                virCapsHostNUMACellPageInfo **pageinfo)
 {
@@ -833,17 +833,7 @@ virCapabilitiesHostNUMAFormat(virBuffer *buf,
                               cell->pageinfo[j].avail);
         }
 
-        if (cell->ndistances) {
-            virBufferAddLit(buf, "<distances>\n");
-            virBufferAdjustIndent(buf, 2);
-            for (j = 0; j < cell->ndistances; j++) {
-                virBufferAsprintf(buf, "<sibling id='%d' value='%d'/>\n",
-                                  cell->distances[j].node,
-                                  cell->distances[j].distance);
-            }
-            virBufferAdjustIndent(buf, -2);
-            virBufferAddLit(buf, "</distances>\n");
-        }
+        virNumaDistanceFormat(buf, cell->distances, cell->ndistances);
 
         virBufferAsprintf(buf, "<cpus num='%d'>\n", cell->ncpus);
         virBufferAdjustIndent(buf, 2);
@@ -1457,10 +1447,10 @@ virCapabilitiesFillCPUInfo(int cpu_id G_GNUC_UNUSED,
 
 static int
 virCapabilitiesGetNUMADistances(int node,
-                                virCapsHostNUMACellDistance **distancesRet,
+                                virNumaDistance **distancesRet,
                                 int *ndistancesRet)
 {
-    virCapsHostNUMACellDistance *tmp = NULL;
+    virNumaDistance *tmp = NULL;
     int tmp_size = 0;
     int ret = -1;
     int *distances = NULL;
@@ -1476,14 +1466,14 @@ virCapabilitiesGetNUMADistances(int node,
         return 0;
     }
 
-    tmp = g_new0(virCapsHostNUMACellDistance, ndistances);
+    tmp = g_new0(virNumaDistance, ndistances);
 
     for (i = 0; i < ndistances; i++) {
         if (!distances[i])
             continue;
 
-        tmp[tmp_size].node = i;
-        tmp[tmp_size].distance = distances[i];
+        tmp[tmp_size].cellid = i;
+        tmp[tmp_size].value = distances[i];
         tmp_size++;
     }
 
@@ -1607,7 +1597,7 @@ virCapabilitiesHostNUMAInitReal(virCapsHostNUMA *caps)
 
     for (n = 0; n <= max_node; n++) {
         g_autoptr(virBitmap) cpumap = NULL;
-        g_autofree virCapsHostNUMACellDistance *distances = NULL;
+        g_autofree virNumaDistance *distances = NULL;
         int ndistances = 0;
         g_autofree virCapsHostNUMACellPageInfo *pageinfo = NULL;
         int npageinfo;
diff --git a/src/conf/capabilities.h b/src/conf/capabilities.h
index f11471ef6c..4d4ac476ea 100644
--- a/src/conf/capabilities.h
+++ b/src/conf/capabilities.h
@@ -94,11 +94,6 @@ struct _virCapsHostNUMACellCPU {
     virBitmap *siblings;
 };
 
-struct _virCapsHostNUMACellDistance {
-    int node;               /* foreign NUMA node */
-    unsigned int distance;  /* distance to the node */
-};
-
 struct _virCapsHostNUMACellPageInfo {
     unsigned int size;      /* page size in kibibytes */
     unsigned long long avail;           /* the size of pool */
@@ -109,8 +104,8 @@ struct _virCapsHostNUMACell {
     int ncpus;
     unsigned long long mem; /* in kibibytes */
     virCapsHostNUMACellCPU *cpus;
-    int ndistances;
-    virCapsHostNUMACellDistance *distances;
+    size_t ndistances;
+    virNumaDistance *distances;
     int npageinfo;
     virCapsHostNUMACellPageInfo *pageinfo;
 };
@@ -256,7 +251,7 @@ virCapabilitiesHostNUMAAddCell(virCapsHostNUMA *caps,
                                int ncpus,
                                virCapsHostNUMACellCPU **cpus,
                                int ndistances,
-                               virCapsHostNUMACellDistance **distances,
+                               virNumaDistance **distances,
                                int npageinfo,
                                virCapsHostNUMACellPageInfo **pageinfo);
 
diff --git a/src/conf/virconftypes.h b/src/conf/virconftypes.h
index d21d5a1be3..b21068486e 100644
--- a/src/conf/virconftypes.h
+++ b/src/conf/virconftypes.h
@@ -60,8 +60,6 @@ typedef struct _virCapsHostNUMACellCPU virCapsHostNUMACellCPU;
 
 typedef struct _virCapsHostNUMACellPageInfo virCapsHostNUMACellPageInfo;
 
-typedef struct _virCapsHostNUMACellDistance virCapsHostNUMACellDistance;
-
 typedef struct _virCapsHostSecModel virCapsHostSecModel;
 
 typedef struct _virCapsHostSecModelLabel virCapsHostSecModelLabel;
diff --git a/src/libxl/libxl_capabilities.c b/src/libxl/libxl_capabilities.c
index d1a1241279..a73f13f829 100644
--- a/src/libxl/libxl_capabilities.c
+++ b/src/libxl/libxl_capabilities.c
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ libxlCapsInitNuma(libxl_ctx *ctx, virCaps *caps)
     libxl_cputopology *cpu_topo = NULL;
     int nr_nodes = 0, nr_cpus = 0, nr_distances = 0;
     virCapsHostNUMACellCPU **cpus = NULL;
-    virCapsHostNUMACellDistance *distances = NULL;
+    virNumaDistance *distances = NULL;
     int *nr_cpus_node = NULL;
     size_t i;
     int ret = -1;
@@ -320,11 +320,11 @@ libxlCapsInitNuma(libxl_ctx *ctx, virCaps *caps)
         if (nr_distances) {
             size_t j;
 
-            distances = g_new0(virCapsHostNUMACellDistance, nr_distances);
+            distances = g_new0(virNumaDistance, nr_distances);
 
             for (j = 0; j < nr_distances; j++) {
-                distances[j].node = j;
-                distances[j].distance = numa_info[i].dists[j];
+                distances[j].cellid = j;
+                distances[j].value = numa_info[i].dists[j];
             }
         }