diff --git a/cmd/nerdctl/image/image_convert_linux_test.go b/cmd/nerdctl/image/image_convert_linux_test.go
index 90e7a556dc3..be24918fb31 100644
--- a/cmd/nerdctl/image/image_convert_linux_test.go
+++ b/cmd/nerdctl/image/image_convert_linux_test.go
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ func TestImageConvert(t *testing.T) {
 				Command: func(data test.Data, helpers test.Helpers) test.TestableCommand {
 					return helpers.Command("image", "convert", "--soci",
 						"--soci-span-size", "2097152",
-						"--soci-min-layer-size", "20971520",
+						"--soci-min-layer-size", "0",
 						testutil.CommonImage, data.Identifier("converted-image"))
 				},
 				Expected: test.Expects(0, nil, nil),
diff --git a/docs/soci.md b/docs/soci.md
index d2dc84645df..209494566ff 100644
--- a/docs/soci.md
+++ b/docs/soci.md
@@ -4,6 +4,22 @@ SOCI Snapshotter is a containerd snapshotter plugin. It enables standard OCI ima
 
 See https://github.com/awslabs/soci-snapshotter to learn further information.
 
+## SOCI Index Manifest Versions
+
+SOCI supports two index manifest versions:
+
+- **v1**: Original format using OCI Referrers API (disabled by default in SOCI v0.10.0+)
+- **v2**: New format that packages SOCI index with the image (default in SOCI v0.10.0+)
+
+To enable v1 indices in SOCI v0.10.0+, add to `/etc/soci-snapshotter-grpc/config.toml`:
+```toml
+[pull_modes]
+  [pull_modes.soci_v1]
+    enable = true
+```
+
+For detailed information about the differences between v1 and v2, see the [SOCI Index Manifest v2 documentation](https://github.com/awslabs/soci-snapshotter/blob/main/docs/soci-index-manifest-v2.md).
+
 ## Prerequisites
 
 - Install containerd remote snapshotter plugin (`soci-snapshotter-grpc`) from https://github.com/awslabs/soci-snapshotter/blob/main/docs/getting-started.md
@@ -46,10 +62,12 @@ nerdctl push --snapshotter=soci --soci-span-size=2097152 --soci-min-layer-size=2
 ```
 --soci-span-size and --soci-min-layer-size are two properties to customize the SOCI index. See [Command Reference](https://github.com/containerd/nerdctl/blob/377b2077bb616194a8ef1e19ccde32aa1ffd6c84/docs/command-reference.md?plain=1#L773) for further details.
 
+> **Note**: With SOCI v0.10.0+, `nerdctl push` creates and pushes v2 indices by default. For v1 indices, enable them in the snapshotter config as described in the section above.
+
 
 ## Enable SOCI for `nerdctl image convert`
 
-| :zap: Requirement | nerdctl >= 2.2.0 |
+| :zap: Requirement | nerdctl >= 2.1.3 |
 | ----------------- | ---------------- |
 
 | :zap: Requirement | soci-snapshotter >= 0.10.0 |
@@ -59,4 +77,6 @@ nerdctl push --snapshotter=soci --soci-span-size=2097152 --soci-min-layer-size=2
 ```console
 nerdctl image convert --soci --soci-span-size=2097152 --soci-min-layer-size=20971520 public.ecr.aws/my-registry/my-repo:latest public.ecr.aws/my-registry/my-repo:soci
 ```
---soci-span-size and --soci-min-layer-size are two properties to customize the SOCI index. See [Command Reference](https://github.com/containerd/nerdctl/blob/377b2077bb616194a8ef1e19ccde32aa1ffd6c84/docs/command-reference.md?plain=1#L773) for further details.
\ No newline at end of file
+--soci-span-size and --soci-min-layer-size are two properties to customize the SOCI index. See [Command Reference](https://github.com/containerd/nerdctl/blob/377b2077bb616194a8ef1e19ccde32aa1ffd6c84/docs/command-reference.md?plain=1#L773) for further details.
+
+The `image convert` command with `--soci` flag creates SOCI-enabled images using SOCI Index Manifest v2, which combines the SOCI index and the original image into a single artifact.
diff --git a/pkg/snapshotterutil/sociutil.go b/pkg/snapshotterutil/sociutil.go
index 2321b54fdf8..240ef54737e 100644
--- a/pkg/snapshotterutil/sociutil.go
+++ b/pkg/snapshotterutil/sociutil.go
@@ -27,14 +27,37 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/Masterminds/semver/v3"
+
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/v2/client"
 	"github.com/containerd/log"
 
 	"github.com/containerd/nerdctl/v2/pkg/api/types"
 )
 
+// setupSociCommand creates and sets up a SOCI command with common configuration
+func setupSociCommand(gOpts types.GlobalCommandOptions) (*exec.Cmd, error) {
+	sociExecutable, err := exec.LookPath("soci")
+	if err != nil {
+		log.L.WithError(err).Error("soci executable not found in path $PATH")
+		log.L.Info("you might consider installing soci from: https://github.com/awslabs/soci-snapshotter/blob/main/docs/install.md")
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	sociCmd := exec.Command(sociExecutable)
+	sociCmd.Env = os.Environ()
+
+	// #region for global flags.
+	if gOpts.Address != "" {
+		sociCmd.Args = append(sociCmd.Args, "--address", gOpts.Address)
+	}
+	if gOpts.Namespace != "" {
+		sociCmd.Args = append(sociCmd.Args, "--namespace", gOpts.Namespace)
+	}
+
+	return sociCmd, nil
+}
+
 // CheckSociVersion checks if the SOCI binary version is at least the required version
-// This function can be used by both production code and tests
 func CheckSociVersion(requiredVersion string) error {
 	sociExecutable, err := exec.LookPath("soci")
 	if err != nil {
@@ -59,49 +82,27 @@ func CheckSociVersion(requiredVersion string) error {
 	}
 
 	// Extract version number
-	installedVersion := matches[1]
+	installedVersionStr := matches[1]
 
-	// Compare versions using semver
-	v1, err := semver.NewVersion(installedVersion)
+	// Parse versions using semver package
+	installedVersion, err := semver.NewVersion(installedVersionStr)
 	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to parse installed version %s: %v", installedVersion, err)
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to parse installed SOCI version: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	v2, err := semver.NewVersion(requiredVersion)
+	reqVersion, err := semver.NewVersion(requiredVersion)
 	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to parse minimum required version %s: %v", requiredVersion, err)
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to parse required SOCI version: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	if v1.LessThan(v2) {
-		return fmt.Errorf("SOCI version %s is lower than the required version %s for the convert operation", installedVersion, requiredVersion)
+	// Compare versions
+	if installedVersion.LessThan(reqVersion) {
+		return fmt.Errorf("SOCI version %s is lower than the required version %s for the convert operation", installedVersion.String(), reqVersion.String())
 	}
 
 	return nil
 }
 
-// setupSociCommand creates and sets up a SOCI command with common configuration
-func setupSociCommand(gOpts types.GlobalCommandOptions) (*exec.Cmd, error) {
-	sociExecutable, err := exec.LookPath("soci")
-	if err != nil {
-		log.L.WithError(err).Error("soci executable not found in path $PATH")
-		log.L.Info("you might consider installing soci from: https://github.com/awslabs/soci-snapshotter/blob/main/docs/install.md")
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
-	sociCmd := exec.Command(sociExecutable)
-	sociCmd.Env = os.Environ()
-
-	// #region for global flags.
-	if gOpts.Address != "" {
-		sociCmd.Args = append(sociCmd.Args, "--address", gOpts.Address)
-	}
-	if gOpts.Namespace != "" {
-		sociCmd.Args = append(sociCmd.Args, "--namespace", gOpts.Namespace)
-	}
-
-	return sociCmd, nil
-}
-
 // ConvertSociIndexV2 converts an image to SOCI format and returns the converted image reference with digest
 func ConvertSociIndexV2(ctx context.Context, client *client.Client, srcRef string, destRef string, gOpts types.GlobalCommandOptions, platforms []string, sOpts types.SociOptions) (string, error) {
 	// Check if SOCI version is at least 0.10.0 which is required for the convert operation