diff --git a/lucene/backward-codecs/src/test/org/apache/lucene/backward_codecs/lucene90/TestLucene90HnswVectorsFormat.java b/lucene/backward-codecs/src/test/org/apache/lucene/backward_codecs/lucene90/TestLucene90HnswVectorsFormat.java
index ef9c4623daf..f3b411cee09 100644
--- a/lucene/backward-codecs/src/test/org/apache/lucene/backward_codecs/lucene90/TestLucene90HnswVectorsFormat.java
+++ b/lucene/backward-codecs/src/test/org/apache/lucene/backward_codecs/lucene90/TestLucene90HnswVectorsFormat.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import static org.apache.lucene.backward_codecs.lucene90.Lucene90HnswVectorsForm
 
 import org.apache.lucene.codecs.Codec;
 import org.apache.lucene.codecs.KnnVectorsFormat;
+import org.apache.lucene.index.VectorEncoding;
 import org.apache.lucene.tests.index.BaseKnnVectorsFormatTestCase;
 
 public class TestLucene90HnswVectorsFormat extends BaseKnnVectorsFormatTestCase {
@@ -30,6 +31,12 @@ public class TestLucene90HnswVectorsFormat extends BaseKnnVectorsFormatTestCase
     return new Lucene90RWCodec();
   }
 
+  @Override
+  protected VectorEncoding randomVectorEncoding() {
+    // Older formats only support float vectors
+    return VectorEncoding.FLOAT32;
+  }
+
   public void testToString() {
     int maxConn = randomIntBetween(DEFAULT_MAX_CONN - 10, DEFAULT_MAX_CONN + 10);
     int beamWidth = randomIntBetween(DEFAULT_BEAM_WIDTH - 50, DEFAULT_BEAM_WIDTH + 50);
diff --git a/lucene/backward-codecs/src/test/org/apache/lucene/backward_codecs/lucene91/TestLucene91HnswVectorsFormat.java b/lucene/backward-codecs/src/test/org/apache/lucene/backward_codecs/lucene91/TestLucene91HnswVectorsFormat.java
index 967e0bfe63d..b8cae733722 100644
--- a/lucene/backward-codecs/src/test/org/apache/lucene/backward_codecs/lucene91/TestLucene91HnswVectorsFormat.java
+++ b/lucene/backward-codecs/src/test/org/apache/lucene/backward_codecs/lucene91/TestLucene91HnswVectorsFormat.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import static org.apache.lucene.backward_codecs.lucene91.Lucene91HnswVectorsForm
 
 import org.apache.lucene.codecs.Codec;
 import org.apache.lucene.codecs.KnnVectorsFormat;
+import org.apache.lucene.index.VectorEncoding;
 import org.apache.lucene.tests.index.BaseKnnVectorsFormatTestCase;
 
 public class TestLucene91HnswVectorsFormat extends BaseKnnVectorsFormatTestCase {
@@ -30,6 +31,12 @@ public class TestLucene91HnswVectorsFormat extends BaseKnnVectorsFormatTestCase
     return new Lucene91RWCodec();
   }
 
+  @Override
+  protected VectorEncoding randomVectorEncoding() {
+    // Older formats only support float vectors
+    return VectorEncoding.FLOAT32;
+  }
+
   public void testToString() {
     int maxConn = randomIntBetween(DEFAULT_MAX_CONN - 10, DEFAULT_MAX_CONN + 10);
     int beamWidth = randomIntBetween(DEFAULT_BEAM_WIDTH - 50, DEFAULT_BEAM_WIDTH + 50);
diff --git a/lucene/backward-codecs/src/test/org/apache/lucene/backward_codecs/lucene92/TestLucene92HnswVectorsFormat.java b/lucene/backward-codecs/src/test/org/apache/lucene/backward_codecs/lucene92/TestLucene92HnswVectorsFormat.java
index 958da572da4..976191e2484 100644
--- a/lucene/backward-codecs/src/test/org/apache/lucene/backward_codecs/lucene92/TestLucene92HnswVectorsFormat.java
+++ b/lucene/backward-codecs/src/test/org/apache/lucene/backward_codecs/lucene92/TestLucene92HnswVectorsFormat.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package org.apache.lucene.backward_codecs.lucene92;
 
 import org.apache.lucene.codecs.Codec;
 import org.apache.lucene.codecs.KnnVectorsFormat;
+import org.apache.lucene.index.VectorEncoding;
 import org.apache.lucene.tests.index.BaseKnnVectorsFormatTestCase;
 
 public class TestLucene92HnswVectorsFormat extends BaseKnnVectorsFormatTestCase {
@@ -26,6 +27,12 @@ public class TestLucene92HnswVectorsFormat extends BaseKnnVectorsFormatTestCase
     return new Lucene92RWCodec();
   }
 
+  @Override
+  protected VectorEncoding randomVectorEncoding() {
+    // Older formats only support float vectors
+    return VectorEncoding.FLOAT32;
+  }
+
   public void testToString() {
     Codec customCodec =
         new Lucene92RWCodec() {
diff --git a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/KnnVectorsFormat.java b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/KnnVectorsFormat.java
index f775d02acf6..68100b88d15 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/KnnVectorsFormat.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/KnnVectorsFormat.java
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 package org.apache.lucene.codecs;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
-import org.apache.lucene.codecs.lucene94.Lucene94HnswVectorsFormat;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.SegmentReadState;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.SegmentWriteState;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.VectorValues;
@@ -78,15 +77,6 @@ public abstract class KnnVectorsFormat implements NamedSPILoader.NamedSPI {
   /** Returns a {@link KnnVectorsReader} to read the vectors from the index. */
   public abstract KnnVectorsReader fieldsReader(SegmentReadState state) throws IOException;
 
-  /**
-   * Returns the current KnnVectorsFormat version number. Indexes written using the format will be
-   * "stamped" with this version.
-   */
-  public int currentVersion() {
-    // return the version supported by older codecs that did not override this method
-    return Lucene94HnswVectorsFormat.VERSION_START;
-  }
-
   /**
    * EMPTY throws an exception when written. It acts as a sentinel indicating a Codec that does not
    * support vectors.
diff --git a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/lucene94/Lucene94Codec.java b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/lucene94/Lucene94Codec.java
index bae77b50e4b..db8be826d78 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/lucene94/Lucene94Codec.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/lucene94/Lucene94Codec.java
@@ -99,11 +99,6 @@ public class Lucene94Codec extends Codec {
         public KnnVectorsFormat getKnnVectorsFormatForField(String field) {
           return Lucene94Codec.this.getKnnVectorsFormatForField(field);
         }
-
-        @Override
-        public int currentVersion() {
-          return Lucene94HnswVectorsFormat.VERSION_CURRENT;
-        }
       };
 
   private final StoredFieldsFormat storedFieldsFormat;
diff --git a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/lucene94/Lucene94HnswVectorsFormat.java b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/lucene94/Lucene94HnswVectorsFormat.java
index b3cf13ca685..d263e8122a9 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/lucene94/Lucene94HnswVectorsFormat.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/lucene94/Lucene94HnswVectorsFormat.java
@@ -157,11 +157,6 @@ public final class Lucene94HnswVectorsFormat extends KnnVectorsFormat {
     return new Lucene94HnswVectorsReader(state);
   }
 
-  @Override
-  public int currentVersion() {
-    return VERSION_CURRENT;
-  }
-
   @Override
   public String toString() {
     return "Lucene94HnswVectorsFormat(name=Lucene94HnswVectorsFormat, maxConn="
diff --git a/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/tests/index/BaseKnnVectorsFormatTestCase.java b/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/tests/index/BaseKnnVectorsFormatTestCase.java
index 094ca83a310..fa1a8e62f30 100644
--- a/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/tests/index/BaseKnnVectorsFormatTestCase.java
+++ b/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/tests/index/BaseKnnVectorsFormatTestCase.java
@@ -670,14 +670,12 @@ public abstract class BaseKnnVectorsFormatTestCase extends BaseIndexFileFormatTe
         random().nextInt(VectorSimilarityFunction.values().length)];
   }
 
-  private VectorEncoding randomVectorEncoding() {
-    Codec codec = getCodec();
-    if (codec.knnVectorsFormat().currentVersion()
-        >= Codec.forName("Lucene94").knnVectorsFormat().currentVersion()) {
-      return VectorEncoding.values()[random().nextInt(VectorEncoding.values().length)];
-    } else {
-      return VectorEncoding.FLOAT32;
-    }
+  /**
+   * This method is overrideable since old codec versions only support {@link
+   * VectorEncoding#FLOAT32}.
+   */
+  protected VectorEncoding randomVectorEncoding() {
+    return VectorEncoding.values()[random().nextInt(VectorEncoding.values().length)];
   }
 
   public void testIndexedValueNotAliased() throws Exception {