diff --git a/pkg/reference/reference.go b/pkg/reference/reference.go
index 9329a9aab..d983c4e13 100644
--- a/pkg/reference/reference.go
+++ b/pkg/reference/reference.go
@@ -154,26 +154,3 @@ func (r Spec) String() string {
 
 	return r.Locator + ":" + r.Object
 }
-
-// SplitObject provides two parts of the object spec, delimited by an "@"
-// symbol. It does not perform any validation on correctness of the values
-// returned, and it's the callers' responsibility to validate the result.
-//
-// If an "@" delimiter is found, it returns the part *including* the "@"
-// delimiter as "tag", and the part after the "@" as digest.
-//
-// The example below produces "docker.io/library/ubuntu:latest@" and
-// "sha256:deadbeef";
-//
-//	t, d := SplitObject("docker.io/library/ubuntu:latest@sha256:deadbeef")
-//	fmt.Println(t) // docker.io/library/ubuntu:latest@
-//	fmt.Println(d) // sha256:deadbeef
-//
-// Deprecated: use [Parse] and [Spec.Digest] instead.
-func SplitObject(obj string) (tag string, dgst digest.Digest) {
-	if i := strings.Index(obj, "@"); i >= 0 {
-		// Offset by one so preserve the "@" in the tag returned.
-		return obj[:i+1], digest.Digest(obj[i+1:])
-	}
-	return obj, ""
-}
diff --git a/pkg/reference/reference_test.go b/pkg/reference/reference_test.go
index b8929a5c8..91f479ba3 100644
--- a/pkg/reference/reference_test.go
+++ b/pkg/reference/reference_test.go
@@ -192,33 +192,3 @@ func TestReferenceParser(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
-
-func BenchmarkSplitObject(b *testing.B) {
-	inputs := []string{
-		"",
-		"@",
-		"docker.io@",
-		"@digest",
-		"docker.io/library/redis:foo?fooo=asdf",
-		"docker.io/library/redis:foo@sha256:abcdef?fooo=asdf",
-		"docker.io/library/redis@sha256:abcdef?fooo=asdf",
-		"docker.io/library/redis:obj@abcdef?fooo=asdf",
-		"localhost:5000/library/redis:obj@abcdef?fooo=asdf",
-		"/docker.io/library/redis:obj@abcdef?fooo=asdf",
-		"docker.io/library/redis?fooo=asdf",
-		"sub-dom1.foo.com/bar/baz/quux:latest",
-		"sub-dom1.foo.com/bar/baz/quux:some-long-tag",
-		"b.gcr.io/test.example.com/my-app:test.example.com",
-		"xn--n3h.com/myimage:xn--n3h.com", // ☃.com in punycode
-		"xn--7o8h.com/myimage:xn--7o8h.com@sha512:fffffff",
-		"http://xn--7o8h.com/myimage:xn--7o8h.com@sha512:fffffff",
-	}
-
-	b.ReportAllocs()
-
-	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
-		for _, input := range inputs {
-			_, _ = SplitObject(input)
-		}
-	}
-}