diff --git a/reference/normalize.go b/reference/normalize.go
index 2d71fc5e9ff..b3dfb7a6d7e 100644
--- a/reference/normalize.go
+++ b/reference/normalize.go
@@ -56,6 +56,35 @@ func ParseNormalizedNamed(s string) (Named, error) {
 	return named, nil
 }
 
+// ParseDockerRef 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.
+func ParseDockerRef(ref string) (Named, error) {
+	named, err := ParseNormalizedNamed(ref)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	if _, ok := named.(NamedTagged); ok {
+		if canonical, ok := named.(Canonical); ok {
+			// The reference is both tagged and digested, only
+			// return digested.
+			newNamed, err := WithName(canonical.Name())
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			newCanonical, err := WithDigest(newNamed, canonical.Digest())
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			return newCanonical, nil
+		}
+	}
+	return TagNameOnly(named), nil
+}
+
 // splitDockerDomain splits a repository name to domain and remotename string.
 // If no valid domain is found, the default domain is used. Repository name
 // needs to be already validated before.
diff --git a/reference/normalize_test.go b/reference/normalize_test.go
index a881972accb..a636236eee0 100644
--- a/reference/normalize_test.go
+++ b/reference/normalize_test.go
@@ -623,3 +623,83 @@ func TestMatch(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func TestParseDockerRef(t *testing.T) {
+	testcases := []struct {
+		name     string
+		input    string
+		expected string
+	}{
+		{
+			name:     "nothing",
+			input:    "busybox",
+			expected: "docker.io/library/busybox:latest",
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "tag only",
+			input:    "busybox:latest",
+			expected: "docker.io/library/busybox:latest",
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "digest only",
+			input:    "busybox@sha256:e6693c20186f837fc393390135d8a598a96a833917917789d63766cab6c59582",
+			expected: "docker.io/library/busybox@sha256:e6693c20186f837fc393390135d8a598a96a833917917789d63766cab6c59582",
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "path only",
+			input:    "library/busybox",
+			expected: "docker.io/library/busybox:latest",
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "hostname only",
+			input:    "docker.io/busybox",
+			expected: "docker.io/library/busybox:latest",
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "no tag",
+			input:    "docker.io/library/busybox",
+			expected: "docker.io/library/busybox:latest",
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "no path",
+			input:    "docker.io/busybox:latest",
+			expected: "docker.io/library/busybox:latest",
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "no hostname",
+			input:    "library/busybox:latest",
+			expected: "docker.io/library/busybox:latest",
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "full reference with tag",
+			input:    "docker.io/library/busybox:latest",
+			expected: "docker.io/library/busybox:latest",
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "gcr reference without tag",
+			input:    "gcr.io/library/busybox",
+			expected: "gcr.io/library/busybox:latest",
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "both tag and digest",
+			input:    "gcr.io/library/busybox:latest@sha256:e6693c20186f837fc393390135d8a598a96a833917917789d63766cab6c59582",
+			expected: "gcr.io/library/busybox@sha256:e6693c20186f837fc393390135d8a598a96a833917917789d63766cab6c59582",
+		},
+	}
+	for _, test := range testcases {
+		t.Run(test.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			normalized, err := ParseDockerRef(test.input)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			output := normalized.String()
+			if output != test.expected {
+				t.Fatalf("expected %q to be parsed as %v, got %v", test.input, test.expected, output)
+			}
+			_, err = Parse(output)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("%q should be a valid reference, but got an error: %v", output, err)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}