diff --git a/pkg/cri/util/image.go b/pkg/cri/util/image.go
deleted file mode 100644
index d3abcd31a..000000000
--- a/pkg/cri/util/image.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,33 +0,0 @@
-/*
-   Copyright The containerd Authors.
-
-   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-   You may obtain a copy of the License at
-
-       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-
-   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-   limitations under the License.
-*/
-
-package util
-
-import (
-	"github.com/containerd/containerd/reference/docker"
-)
-
-// NormalizeImageRef normalizes the image reference following the docker convention. This is added
-// mainly for backward compatibility.
-// The reference returned can only be either tagged or digested. For reference contains both tag
-// and digest, the function returns digested reference, e.g. docker.io/library/busybox:latest@
-// sha256:7cc4b5aefd1d0cadf8d97d4350462ba51c694ebca145b08d7d41b41acc8db5aa will be returned as
-// docker.io/library/busybox@sha256:7cc4b5aefd1d0cadf8d97d4350462ba51c694ebca145b08d7d41b41acc8db5aa.
-//
-// Deprecated: use github.com/containerd/containerd/reference/docker.ParseDockerRef() instead
-func NormalizeImageRef(ref string) (docker.Named, error) {
-	return docker.ParseDockerRef(ref)
-}
diff --git a/pkg/cri/util/image_test.go b/pkg/cri/util/image_test.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 34d3bcd06..000000000
--- a/pkg/cri/util/image_test.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,85 +0,0 @@
-/*
-   Copyright The containerd Authors.
-
-   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-   You may obtain a copy of the License at
-
-       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-
-   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-   limitations under the License.
-*/
-
-package util
-
-import (
-	"testing"
-
-	"github.com/containerd/containerd/reference"
-	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
-)
-
-func TestNormalizeImageRef(t *testing.T) {
-	for _, test := range []struct {
-		input  string
-		expect string
-	}{
-		{ // has nothing
-			input:  "busybox",
-			expect: "docker.io/library/busybox:latest",
-		},
-		{ // only has tag
-			input:  "busybox:latest",
-			expect: "docker.io/library/busybox:latest",
-		},
-		{ // only has digest
-			input:  "busybox@sha256:e6693c20186f837fc393390135d8a598a96a833917917789d63766cab6c59582",
-			expect: "docker.io/library/busybox@sha256:e6693c20186f837fc393390135d8a598a96a833917917789d63766cab6c59582",
-		},
-		{ // only has path
-			input:  "library/busybox",
-			expect: "docker.io/library/busybox:latest",
-		},
-		{ // only has hostname
-			input:  "docker.io/busybox",
-			expect: "docker.io/library/busybox:latest",
-		},
-		{ // has no tag
-			input:  "docker.io/library/busybox",
-			expect: "docker.io/library/busybox:latest",
-		},
-		{ // has no path
-			input:  "docker.io/busybox:latest",
-			expect: "docker.io/library/busybox:latest",
-		},
-		{ // has no hostname
-			input:  "library/busybox:latest",
-			expect: "docker.io/library/busybox:latest",
-		},
-		{ // full reference
-			input:  "docker.io/library/busybox:latest",
-			expect: "docker.io/library/busybox:latest",
-		},
-		{ // gcr reference
-			input:  "gcr.io/library/busybox",
-			expect: "gcr.io/library/busybox:latest",
-		},
-		{ // both tag and digest
-			input:  "gcr.io/library/busybox:latest@sha256:e6693c20186f837fc393390135d8a598a96a833917917789d63766cab6c59582",
-			expect: "gcr.io/library/busybox@sha256:e6693c20186f837fc393390135d8a598a96a833917917789d63766cab6c59582",
-		},
-	} {
-		t.Run(test.input, func(t *testing.T) {
-			normalized, err := NormalizeImageRef(test.input)
-			assert.NoError(t, err)
-			output := normalized.String()
-			assert.Equal(t, test.expect, output)
-			_, err = reference.Parse(output)
-			assert.NoError(t, err, "%q should be containerd supported reference", output)
-		})
-	}
-}