diff --git a/columnar/compat_tests_data/v1.columnar b/columnar/compat_tests_data/v1.columnar
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..512b4394e
Binary files /dev/null and b/columnar/compat_tests_data/v1.columnar differ
diff --git a/columnar/src/columnar/format_version.rs b/columnar/src/columnar/format_version.rs
index 5254a43b1..a46913be8 100644
--- a/columnar/src/columnar/format_version.rs
+++ b/columnar/src/columnar/format_version.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+use core::fmt;
+use std::fmt::{Display, Formatter};
+
 use crate::InvalidData;
 
 pub const VERSION_FOOTER_NUM_BYTES: usize = MAGIC_BYTES.len() + std::mem::size_of::<u32>();
@@ -20,12 +23,22 @@ pub fn parse_footer(footer_bytes: [u8; VERSION_FOOTER_NUM_BYTES]) -> Result<Vers
     Version::try_from_bytes(footer_bytes[0..4].try_into().unwrap())
 }
 
+pub const CURRENT_VERSION: Version = Version::V1;
+
 #[derive(Debug, Copy, Clone, Eq, PartialEq)]
 #[repr(u32)]
 pub enum Version {
     V1 = 1u32,
 }
 
+impl Display for Version {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
+        match self {
+            Version::V1 => write!(f, "v1"),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 impl Version {
     fn to_bytes(self) -> [u8; 4] {
         (self as u32).to_le_bytes()
diff --git a/columnar/src/columnar/mod.rs b/columnar/src/columnar/mod.rs
index 12a7084e7..bb9e485be 100644
--- a/columnar/src/columnar/mod.rs
+++ b/columnar/src/columnar/mod.rs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ mod reader;
 mod writer;
 
 pub use column_type::{ColumnType, HasAssociatedColumnType};
+pub use format_version::{Version, CURRENT_VERSION};
 #[cfg(test)]
 pub(crate) use merge::ColumnTypeCategory;
 pub use merge::{merge_columnar, MergeRowOrder, ShuffleMergeOrder, StackMergeOrder};
diff --git a/columnar/src/compat_tests.rs b/columnar/src/compat_tests.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..52950fe15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/columnar/src/compat_tests.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+
+use crate::{Column, ColumnarReader, DynamicColumn, CURRENT_VERSION};
+
+const NUM_DOCS: u32 = u16::MAX as u32;
+
+fn generate_columnar(num_docs: u32) -> Vec<u8> {
+    use crate::ColumnarWriter;
+
+    let mut columnar_writer = ColumnarWriter::default();
+
+    for i in 0..num_docs {
+        if i % 100 == 0 {
+            columnar_writer.record_numerical(i, "sparse", i as u64);
+        }
+        if i % 2 == 0 {
+            columnar_writer.record_numerical(i, "dense", i as u64);
+        }
+        columnar_writer.record_numerical(i, "full", i as u64);
+        columnar_writer.record_numerical(i, "multi", i as u64);
+        columnar_writer.record_numerical(i, "multi", i as u64);
+    }
+
+    let mut wrt: Vec<u8> = Vec::new();
+    columnar_writer.serialize(num_docs, None, &mut wrt).unwrap();
+
+    wrt
+}
+
+#[test]
+/// Writes a columnar for the CURRENT_VERSION to disk.
+fn create_format() {
+    let version = CURRENT_VERSION.to_string();
+    let file_path = path_for_version(&version);
+    if PathBuf::from(file_path.clone()).exists() {
+        return;
+    }
+    let columnar = generate_columnar(NUM_DOCS);
+    std::fs::write(file_path, columnar).unwrap();
+}
+
+fn path_for_version(version: &str) -> String {
+    format!("./compat_tests_data/{}.columnar", version)
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_format_v1() {
+    let path = path_for_version("v1");
+    test_format(&path);
+}
+
+fn test_format(path: &str) {
+    let file_content = std::fs::read(path).unwrap();
+    let reader = ColumnarReader::open(file_content).unwrap();
+
+    let column = open_column(&reader, "full");
+    assert_eq!(column.first(0).unwrap(), 0);
+    assert_eq!(column.first(NUM_DOCS - 1).unwrap(), NUM_DOCS as u64 - 1);
+
+    let column = open_column(&reader, "multi");
+    assert_eq!(column.first(0).unwrap(), 0);
+    assert_eq!(column.first(NUM_DOCS - 1).unwrap(), NUM_DOCS as u64 - 1);
+
+    let column = open_column(&reader, "sparse");
+    assert_eq!(column.first(0).unwrap(), 0);
+    assert_eq!(column.first(NUM_DOCS - 1), None);
+    assert_eq!(column.first(65000), Some(65000));
+
+    let column = open_column(&reader, "dense");
+    assert_eq!(column.first(0).unwrap(), 0);
+    assert_eq!(column.first(NUM_DOCS - 1).unwrap(), NUM_DOCS as u64 - 1);
+    assert_eq!(column.first(NUM_DOCS - 2), None);
+}
+
+fn open_column(reader: &ColumnarReader, name: &str) -> Column<u64> {
+    let column = reader.read_columns(name).unwrap()[0]
+        .open()
+        .unwrap()
+        .coerce_numerical(crate::NumericalType::U64)
+        .unwrap();
+    let DynamicColumn::U64(column) = column else {
+        panic!();
+    };
+    column
+}
diff --git a/columnar/src/lib.rs b/columnar/src/lib.rs
index 7236ea5bc..2b7a60b3a 100644
--- a/columnar/src/lib.rs
+++ b/columnar/src/lib.rs
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ pub use column_values::{
 };
 pub use columnar::{
     merge_columnar, ColumnType, ColumnarReader, ColumnarWriter, HasAssociatedColumnType,
-    MergeRowOrder, ShuffleMergeOrder, StackMergeOrder,
+    MergeRowOrder, ShuffleMergeOrder, StackMergeOrder, Version, CURRENT_VERSION,
 };
 use sstable::VoidSSTable;
 pub use value::{NumericalType, NumericalValue};
@@ -131,3 +131,6 @@ impl Cardinality {
 
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests;
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod compat_tests;