diff --git a/pywt/tests/data/README.md b/pywt/tests/data/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8910e1caa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pywt/tests/data/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+The .npz files with Matlab reference data are generated by the
+`generate_matlab*.py` scripts in the `util/` top-level directory
+in this repository.
diff --git a/pywt/tests/data/generate_matlab_data.py b/util/generate_matlab_data.py
similarity index 96%
rename from pywt/tests/data/generate_matlab_data.py
rename to util/generate_matlab_data.py
index fc237c052..c6b9b98b9 100644
--- a/pywt/tests/data/generate_matlab_data.py
+++ b/util/generate_matlab_data.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 """ This script was used to generate dwt_matlabR2012a_result.npz by storing
 the outputs from Matlab R2012a. """
 
+import os.path
 
 import numpy as np
 
@@ -91,4 +92,5 @@
 finally:
     mlab.stop()
 
-np.savez('dwt_matlabR2012a_result.npz', **all_matlab_results)
+np.savez(os.path.join('..', 'pywt', 'tests', 'data',
+                      'dwt_matlabR2012a_result.npz'), **all_matlab_results)
diff --git a/pywt/tests/data/generate_matlab_data_cwt.py b/util/generate_matlab_data_cwt.py
similarity index 95%
rename from pywt/tests/data/generate_matlab_data_cwt.py
rename to util/generate_matlab_data_cwt.py
index e40f1126a..993ebd000 100644
--- a/pywt/tests/data/generate_matlab_data_cwt.py
+++ b/util/generate_matlab_data_cwt.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 """ This script was used to generate dwt_matlabR2012a_result.npz by storing
 the outputs from Matlab R2012a. """
 
+import os
 
 import numpy as np
 
@@ -83,4 +84,5 @@
 finally:
     mlab.stop()
 
-np.savez('cwt_matlabR2015b_result.npz', **all_matlab_results)
+np.savez(os.path.join('..', 'pywt', 'tests', 'data',
+                      'cwt_matlabR2015b_result.npz'), **all_matlab_results)