diff --git a/include/rocksdb/table.h b/include/rocksdb/table.h
index 5a4e8070af55..b0b276a63964 100644
--- a/include/rocksdb/table.h
+++ b/include/rocksdb/table.h
@@ -518,7 +518,15 @@ struct BlockBasedTableOptions {
   // 6 -- Modified the file footer and checksum matching so that SST data
   // misplaced within or between files is as likely to fail checksum
   // verification as random corruption. Also checksum-protects SST footer.
-  uint32_t format_version = 5;
+  // Can be read by RocksDB versions >= 8.6.0.
+  //
+  // Using the default setting of format_version is strongly recommended, so
+  // that available enhancements are adopted eventually and automatically. The
+  // default setting will only update to the latest after thorough production
+  // validation and sufficient time and number of releases have elapsed
+  // (6 months recommended) to ensure a clean downgrade/revert path for users
+  // who might only upgrade a few times per year.
+  uint32_t format_version = 6;
 
   // Store index blocks on disk in compressed format. Changing this option to
   // false  will avoid the overhead of decompression if index blocks are evicted
diff --git a/java/src/main/java/org/rocksdb/BlockBasedTableConfig.java b/java/src/main/java/org/rocksdb/BlockBasedTableConfig.java
index a41fe50ca535..d066131458cd 100644
--- a/java/src/main/java/org/rocksdb/BlockBasedTableConfig.java
+++ b/java/src/main/java/org/rocksdb/BlockBasedTableConfig.java
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ public BlockBasedTableConfig() {
     wholeKeyFiltering = true;
     verifyCompression = false;
     readAmpBytesPerBit = 0;
-    formatVersion = 5;
+    formatVersion = 6;
     enableIndexCompression = true;
     blockAlign = false;
     indexShortening = IndexShorteningMode.kShortenSeparators;
diff --git a/table/block_fetcher_test.cc b/table/block_fetcher_test.cc
index d8f6e3620189..ca8fcb7e5059 100644
--- a/table/block_fetcher_test.cc
+++ b/table/block_fetcher_test.cc
@@ -107,11 +107,16 @@ class BlockFetcherTest : public testing::Test {
 
     // Get handle of the index block.
     Footer footer;
-    ReadFooter(file.get(), &footer);
-    const BlockHandle& index_handle = footer.index_handle();
-    // FIXME: index handle will need to come from metaindex for
-    // format_version >= 6 when that becomes the default
-    ASSERT_FALSE(index_handle.IsNull());
+    uint64_t file_size = 0;
+    ReadFooter(file.get(), &footer, &file_size);
+
+    // Index handle comes from metaindex for format_version >= 6
+    ASSERT_TRUE(footer.index_handle().IsNull());
+
+    BlockHandle index_handle;
+    ASSERT_OK(FindMetaBlockInFile(
+        file.get(), file_size, kBlockBasedTableMagicNumber,
+        ImmutableOptions(options_), {}, kIndexBlockName, &index_handle));
 
     CompressionType compression_type;
     FetchBlock(file.get(), index_handle, BlockType::kIndex,
@@ -286,13 +291,17 @@ class BlockFetcherTest : public testing::Test {
     return internal_key.Encode().ToString();
   }
 
-  void ReadFooter(RandomAccessFileReader* file, Footer* footer) {
+  void ReadFooter(RandomAccessFileReader* file, Footer* footer,
+                  uint64_t* file_size_out = nullptr) {
     uint64_t file_size = 0;
     ASSERT_OK(env_->GetFileSize(file->file_name(), &file_size));
     IOOptions opts;
     ASSERT_OK(ReadFooterFromFile(opts, file, *fs_,
                                  nullptr /* prefetch_buffer */, file_size,
                                  footer, kBlockBasedTableMagicNumber));
+    if (file_size_out) {
+      *file_size_out = file_size;
+    }
   }
 
   // NOTE: compression_type returns the compression type of the fetched block
diff --git a/table/table_test.cc b/table/table_test.cc
index b452f0d2b537..9526bd9f01d0 100644
--- a/table/table_test.cc
+++ b/table/table_test.cc
@@ -4706,8 +4706,10 @@ static void DoCompressionTest(CompressionType comp) {
   Options options;
   test::PlainInternalKeyComparator ikc(options.comparator);
   options.compression = comp;
+  options.db_host_id = "";
   BlockBasedTableOptions table_options;
   table_options.block_size = 1024;
+  options.table_factory.reset(new BlockBasedTableFactory(table_options));
   const ImmutableOptions ioptions(options);
   const MutableCFOptions moptions(options);
   c.Finish(options, ioptions, moptions, table_options, ikc, &keys, &kvmap);
diff --git a/tools/check_format_compatible.sh b/tools/check_format_compatible.sh
index e4343a626c50..c0be0439ba95 100755
--- a/tools/check_format_compatible.sh
+++ b/tools/check_format_compatible.sh
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ EOF
 
 # To check for DB forward compatibility with loading options (old version
 # reading data from new), as well as backward compatibility
-declare -a db_forward_with_options_refs=("6.27.fb" "6.28.fb" "6.29.fb" "7.0.fb" "7.1.fb" "7.2.fb" "7.3.fb" "7.4.fb" "7.5.fb" "7.6.fb" "7.7.fb" "7.8.fb" "7.9.fb" "7.10.fb" "8.0.fb" "8.1.fb" "8.2.fb" "8.3.fb" "8.4.fb" "8.5.fb" "8.6.fb" "8.7.fb" "8.8.fb" "8.9.fb" "8.10.fb" "8.11.fb")
+declare -a db_forward_with_options_refs=("8.6.fb" "8.7.fb" "8.8.fb" "8.9.fb" "8.10.fb" "8.11.fb")
 # To check for DB forward compatibility without loading options (in addition
 # to the "with loading options" set), as well as backward compatibility
 declare -a db_forward_no_options_refs=() # N/A at the moment
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ declare -a db_forward_no_options_refs=() # N/A at the moment
 # To check for SST ingestion backward compatibility (new version reading
 # data from old) (ldb ingest_extern_sst added in 5.16.x, back-ported to
 # 5.14.x, 5.15.x)
-declare -a ext_backward_only_refs=("5.14.fb" "5.15.fb" "5.16.fb" "5.17.fb" "5.18.fb" "6.0.fb" "6.1.fb" "6.2.fb" "6.3.fb" "6.4.fb" "6.5.fb" "6.6.fb" "6.7.fb" "6.8.fb" "6.9.fb" "6.10.fb" "6.11.fb" "6.12.fb" "6.13.fb" "6.14.fb" "6.15.fb" "6.16.fb" "6.17.fb" "6.18.fb" "6.19.fb" "6.20.fb" "6.21.fb" "6.22.fb" "6.23.fb" "6.24.fb" "6.25.fb" "6.26.fb")
+declare -a ext_backward_only_refs=("5.14.fb" "5.15.fb" "5.16.fb" "5.17.fb" "5.18.fb" "6.0.fb" "6.1.fb" "6.2.fb" "6.3.fb" "6.4.fb" "6.5.fb" "6.6.fb" "6.7.fb" "6.8.fb" "6.9.fb" "6.10.fb" "6.11.fb" "6.12.fb" "6.13.fb" "6.14.fb" "6.15.fb" "6.16.fb" "6.17.fb" "6.18.fb" "6.19.fb" "6.20.fb" "6.21.fb" "6.22.fb" "6.23.fb" "6.24.fb" "6.25.fb" "6.26.fb" "6.27.fb" "6.28.fb" "6.29.fb" "7.0.fb" "7.1.fb" "7.2.fb" "7.3.fb" "7.4.fb" "7.5.fb" "7.6.fb" "7.7.fb" "7.8.fb" "7.9.fb" "7.10.fb" "8.0.fb" "8.1.fb" "8.2.fb" "8.3.fb" "8.4.fb" "8.5.fb")
 # To check for SST ingestion forward compatibility (old version reading
 # data from new) as well as backward compatibility
 declare -a ext_forward_refs=("${db_forward_no_options_refs[@]}" "${db_forward_with_options_refs[@]}")
diff --git a/unreleased_history/behavior_changes/format6.md b/unreleased_history/behavior_changes/format6.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e52df488fc04
--- /dev/null
+++ b/unreleased_history/behavior_changes/format6.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+format\_version=6 is the new default setting in BlockBasedTableOptions, for more robust data integrity checking. DBs and SST files written with this setting cannot be read by RocksDB versions before 8.6.0.