diff --git a/src/datumaro/plugins/transforms.py b/src/datumaro/plugins/transforms.py
index 6060b0ad3b..2aa6811194 100644
--- a/src/datumaro/plugins/transforms.py
+++ b/src/datumaro/plugins/transforms.py
@@ -1957,7 +1957,7 @@ def refine_tabular_media(self, item):
             or item.media.table.dtype(col) is int
         ]
 
-        df[str_cols] = df[str_cols].applymap(lambda x: self.remove_unnecessary_char(x))
+        df[str_cols] = df[str_cols].map(lambda x: self.remove_unnecessary_char(x))
 
         if not (self._outlier_value):
             self.check_outlier(media.table.data[float_cols + int_cols], float_cols + int_cols)