diff --git a/manifest/ocischema/index.go b/manifest/ocischema/index.go
index 55daaa881..3ae824f40 100644
--- a/manifest/ocischema/index.go
+++ b/manifest/ocischema/index.go
@@ -45,21 +45,12 @@ func init() {
 	}
 }
 
-// A ManifestDescriptor references a platform-specific manifest.
-type ManifestDescriptor struct {
-	distribution.Descriptor
-
-	// Platform specifies which platform the manifest pointed to by the
-	// descriptor runs on.
-	Platform *v1.Platform `json:"platform,omitempty"`
-}
-
 // ImageIndex references manifests for various platforms.
 type ImageIndex struct {
 	manifest.Versioned
 
 	// Manifests references a list of manifests
-	Manifests []ManifestDescriptor `json:"manifests"`
+	Manifests []distribution.Descriptor `json:"manifests"`
 
 	// Annotations is an optional field that contains arbitrary metadata for the
 	// image index
@@ -69,13 +60,7 @@ type ImageIndex struct {
 // References returns the distribution descriptors for the referenced image
 // manifests.
 func (ii ImageIndex) References() []distribution.Descriptor {
-	references := make([]distribution.Descriptor, len(ii.Manifests))
-	for i := range ii.Manifests {
-		references[i] = ii.Manifests[i].Descriptor
-		references[i].Platform = ii.Manifests[i].Platform
-	}
-
-	return references
+	return ii.Manifests
 }
 
 // DeserializedImageIndex wraps ManifestList with a copy of the original
@@ -91,12 +76,12 @@ type DeserializedImageIndex struct {
 // returns a DeserializedManifestList which contains the resulting manifest list
 // and its JSON representation. If annotations is nil or empty then the
 // annotations property will be omitted from the JSON representation.
-func FromDescriptors(descriptors []ManifestDescriptor, annotations map[string]string) (*DeserializedImageIndex, error) {
+func FromDescriptors(descriptors []distribution.Descriptor, annotations map[string]string) (*DeserializedImageIndex, error) {
 	return fromDescriptorsWithMediaType(descriptors, annotations, v1.MediaTypeImageIndex)
 }
 
 // fromDescriptorsWithMediaType is for testing purposes, it's useful to be able to specify the media type explicitly
-func fromDescriptorsWithMediaType(descriptors []ManifestDescriptor, annotations map[string]string, mediaType string) (_ *DeserializedImageIndex, err error) {
+func fromDescriptorsWithMediaType(descriptors []distribution.Descriptor, annotations map[string]string, mediaType string) (_ *DeserializedImageIndex, err error) {
 	m := ImageIndex{
 		Versioned: manifest.Versioned{
 			SchemaVersion: IndexSchemaVersion.SchemaVersion,
@@ -105,7 +90,7 @@ func fromDescriptorsWithMediaType(descriptors []ManifestDescriptor, annotations
 		Annotations: annotations,
 	}
 
-	m.Manifests = make([]ManifestDescriptor, len(descriptors))
+	m.Manifests = make([]distribution.Descriptor, len(descriptors))
 	copy(m.Manifests, descriptors)
 
 	deserialized := DeserializedImageIndex{
diff --git a/manifest/ocischema/index_test.go b/manifest/ocischema/index_test.go
index 06af34f9a..cb07bb17a 100644
--- a/manifest/ocischema/index_test.go
+++ b/manifest/ocischema/index_test.go
@@ -51,34 +51,28 @@ const expectedOCIImageIndexSerialization = `{
    }
 }`
 
-func makeTestOCIImageIndex(t *testing.T, mediaType string) ([]ManifestDescriptor, *DeserializedImageIndex) {
-	manifestDescriptors := []ManifestDescriptor{
+func makeTestOCIImageIndex(t *testing.T, mediaType string) ([]distribution.Descriptor, *DeserializedImageIndex) {
+	manifestDescriptors := []distribution.Descriptor{
 		{
-			Descriptor: distribution.Descriptor{
-				MediaType: "application/vnd.oci.image.manifest.v1+json",
-				Digest:    "sha256:1a9ec845ee94c202b2d5da74a24f0ed2058318bfa9879fa541efaecba272e86b",
-				Size:      985,
-			},
+			MediaType: "application/vnd.oci.image.manifest.v1+json",
+			Digest:    "sha256:1a9ec845ee94c202b2d5da74a24f0ed2058318bfa9879fa541efaecba272e86b",
+			Size:      985,
 			Platform: &v1.Platform{
 				Architecture: "amd64",
 				OS:           "linux",
 			},
 		},
 		{
-			Descriptor: distribution.Descriptor{
-				MediaType:   "application/vnd.oci.image.manifest.v1+json",
-				Digest:      "sha256:1a9ec845ee94c202b2d5da74a24f0ed2058318bfa9879fa541efaecba272e86b",
-				Size:        985,
-				Annotations: map[string]string{"platform": "none"},
-			},
+			MediaType:   "application/vnd.oci.image.manifest.v1+json",
+			Digest:      "sha256:1a9ec845ee94c202b2d5da74a24f0ed2058318bfa9879fa541efaecba272e86b",
+			Size:        985,
+			Annotations: map[string]string{"platform": "none"},
 		},
 		{
-			Descriptor: distribution.Descriptor{
-				MediaType:   "application/vnd.oci.image.manifest.v1+json",
-				Digest:      "sha256:6346340964309634683409684360934680934608934608934608934068934608",
-				Size:        2392,
-				Annotations: map[string]string{"what": "for"},
-			},
+			MediaType:   "application/vnd.oci.image.manifest.v1+json",
+			Digest:      "sha256:6346340964309634683409684360934680934608934608934608934068934608",
+			Size:        2392,
+			Annotations: map[string]string{"what": "for"},
 			Platform: &v1.Platform{
 				Architecture: "sun4m",
 				OS:           "sunos",
@@ -135,15 +129,8 @@ func TestOCIImageIndex(t *testing.T) {
 	if len(references) != 3 {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected number of references: %d", len(references))
 	}
-	for i := range references {
-		expectedPlatform := manifestDescriptors[i].Platform
-		if !reflect.DeepEqual(references[i].Platform, expectedPlatform) {
-			t.Fatalf("unexpected value %d returned by References: %v", i, references[i])
-		}
-		references[i].Platform = nil
-		if !reflect.DeepEqual(references[i], manifestDescriptors[i].Descriptor) {
-			t.Fatalf("unexpected value %d returned by References: %v", i, references[i])
-		}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(references, manifestDescriptors) {
+		t.Errorf("expected references:\n%v\nbut got:\n%v", references, manifestDescriptors)
 	}
 }
 
@@ -199,9 +186,7 @@ func TestValidateIndex(t *testing.T) {
 		Layers: []distribution.Descriptor{{Size: 2}},
 	}
 	index := ImageIndex{
-		Manifests: []ManifestDescriptor{
-			{Descriptor: distribution.Descriptor{Size: 3}},
-		},
+		Manifests: []distribution.Descriptor{{Size: 3}},
 	}
 	t.Run("valid", func(t *testing.T) {
 		b, err := json.Marshal(index)
diff --git a/registry/storage/manifeststore_test.go b/registry/storage/manifeststore_test.go
index bba3538e1..402d5c945 100644
--- a/registry/storage/manifeststore_test.go
+++ b/registry/storage/manifeststore_test.go
@@ -464,20 +464,12 @@ func testOCIManifestStorage(t *testing.T, testname string, includeMediaTypes boo
 		t.Fatalf("%s: unexpected error getting manifest descriptor", testname)
 	}
 	descriptor.MediaType = v1.MediaTypeImageManifest
-
-	platformSpec := v1.Platform{
+	descriptor.Platform = &v1.Platform{
 		Architecture: "atari2600",
 		OS:           "CP/M",
 	}
 
-	manifestDescriptors := []ocischema.ManifestDescriptor{
-		{
-			Descriptor: descriptor,
-			Platform:   &platformSpec,
-		},
-	}
-
-	imageIndex, err := ociIndexFromDesriptorsWithMediaType(manifestDescriptors, indexMediaType)
+	imageIndex, err := ociIndexFromDesriptorsWithMediaType([]distribution.Descriptor{descriptor}, indexMediaType)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("%s: unexpected error creating image index: %v", testname, err)
 	}
@@ -575,7 +567,7 @@ func TestLinkPathFuncs(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func ociIndexFromDesriptorsWithMediaType(descriptors []ocischema.ManifestDescriptor, mediaType string) (*ocischema.DeserializedImageIndex, error) {
+func ociIndexFromDesriptorsWithMediaType(descriptors []distribution.Descriptor, mediaType string) (*ocischema.DeserializedImageIndex, error) {
 	manifest, err := ocischema.FromDescriptors(descriptors, nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err