diff --git a/bindings/python/src/svs/common.py b/bindings/python/src/svs/common.py
index 48802dd04..69c4f5d40 100644
--- a/bindings/python/src/svs/common.py
+++ b/bindings/python/src/svs/common.py
@@ -81,7 +81,10 @@ def read_vecs(filename: str):
 
     * `bvecs`: 8-bit unsigned integers.
     * `fvecs`: 32-bit floating point numbers.
-    * `ivecs`: 32-bit signed integers.
+    * `ivecs`: 32-bit unsigned integers.
+
+    *Note*: The format differs from the IRISA format.
+    Both vector dimensionality and `ivecs` values are unsigned.
 
     Args:
         filename: The file to read.
@@ -93,24 +96,21 @@ def read_vecs(filename: str):
     file_type = filename[-5:]
     if file_type == 'bvecs':
         dtype = np.uint8
-        struct_format = 'B'
         n_bytes = 1
         padding = 4
     elif file_type == 'fvecs':
         dtype = np.float32
-        struct_format = 'f'
         n_bytes = 4
         padding = 1
     elif file_type == 'ivecs':
         dtype = np.uint32
-        struct_format = 'i'
         n_bytes = 4
         padding = 1
     else:
         raise ValueError('Can only open bvecs, fvecs, and ivecs.')
 
     with open(filename, 'rb') as fin:
-        vec_size = struct.unpack('i', fin.read(4))[0]
+        vec_size = struct.unpack('I', fin.read(4))[0]
 
     X = np.fromfile(filename, dtype=dtype)
     X = X.reshape((-1, vec_size + padding))
diff --git a/examples/cpp/shared/example_vamana_with_compression.cpp b/examples/cpp/shared/example_vamana_with_compression.cpp
index 362abee8a..ebcfc32f7 100644
--- a/examples/cpp/shared/example_vamana_with_compression.cpp
+++ b/examples/cpp/shared/example_vamana_with_compression.cpp
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include "svs/orchestrators/dynamic_vamana.h"
 #include "svs/orchestrators/exhaustive.h"
 #include "svs/orchestrators/vamana.h"
+#include <cstdint>
 
 int main() {
     // STEP 1: Compress Data with LeanVec, reducing dimensionality to leanvec_dim dimensions
@@ -69,7 +70,7 @@ int main() {
     //! [Perform Queries]
 
     //! [Recall]
-    auto groundtruth = svs::load_data<int>(
+    auto groundtruth = svs::load_data<uint32_t>(
         std::filesystem::path(SVS_DATA_DIR) / "groundtruth_euclidean.ivecs"
     );
     double recall = svs::k_recall_at_n(groundtruth, results, n_neighbors, n_neighbors);
diff --git a/examples/cpp/shared/example_vamana_with_compression_dynamic.cpp b/examples/cpp/shared/example_vamana_with_compression_dynamic.cpp
index ce71ccd48..2b134c151 100644
--- a/examples/cpp/shared/example_vamana_with_compression_dynamic.cpp
+++ b/examples/cpp/shared/example_vamana_with_compression_dynamic.cpp
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include "svs/orchestrators/dynamic_vamana.h"
 #include "svs/orchestrators/exhaustive.h"
 #include "svs/orchestrators/vamana.h"
+#include <cstdint>
 
 // Alias for blocked Lean dataset that supports resize/compact
 using BlockedLean = svs::leanvec::LeanDataset<
@@ -113,7 +114,7 @@ int main() {
     //! [Perform Queries]
 
     //! [Recall]
-    auto groundtruth = svs::load_data<int>(
+    auto groundtruth = svs::load_data<uint32_t>(
         std::filesystem::path(SVS_DATA_DIR) / "groundtruth_euclidean.ivecs"
     );
     double recall = svs::k_recall_at_n(groundtruth, results, n_neighbors, n_neighbors);
diff --git a/examples/cpp/shared/example_vamana_with_compression_lvq.cpp b/examples/cpp/shared/example_vamana_with_compression_lvq.cpp
index 7a253d955..8d377d919 100644
--- a/examples/cpp/shared/example_vamana_with_compression_lvq.cpp
+++ b/examples/cpp/shared/example_vamana_with_compression_lvq.cpp
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include "svs/orchestrators/dynamic_vamana.h"
 #include "svs/orchestrators/exhaustive.h"
 #include "svs/orchestrators/vamana.h"
+#include <cstdint>
 
 int main() {
     // STEP 1: Compress Data with LVQ
@@ -57,7 +58,7 @@ int main() {
     //! [Perform Queries]
 
     //! [Recall]
-    auto groundtruth = svs::load_data<int>(
+    auto groundtruth = svs::load_data<uint32_t>(
         std::filesystem::path(SVS_DATA_DIR) / "groundtruth_euclidean.ivecs"
     );
     double recall = svs::k_recall_at_n(groundtruth, results, n_neighbors, n_neighbors);
diff --git a/examples/cpp/shared/shared.cpp b/examples/cpp/shared/shared.cpp
index 67d611835..41df8e8f2 100644
--- a/examples/cpp/shared/shared.cpp
+++ b/examples/cpp/shared/shared.cpp
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include "svs/orchestrators/dynamic_vamana.h"
 #include "svs/orchestrators/exhaustive.h"
 #include "svs/orchestrators/vamana.h"
+#include <cstdint>
 
 #include "utils.h"
 
@@ -96,7 +97,7 @@ void vamana_search(Data& data, Distance distance) {
 
     index.set_search_window_size(search_window_size);
     const auto query_data = svs::load_data<float>(qfname);
-    const auto groundtruth = svs::load_data<int>(gtfname);
+    const auto groundtruth = svs::load_data<uint32_t>(gtfname);
 
     auto tic = svs::lib::now();
     auto query_result = index.search(query_data, n_neighbors);
diff --git a/examples/cpp/shared/utils.h b/examples/cpp/shared/utils.h
index 40dbbd7f3..f5f9f6619 100644
--- a/examples/cpp/shared/utils.h
+++ b/examples/cpp/shared/utils.h
@@ -18,14 +18,15 @@
  * I/O functions for fvecs, ivecs and xVecs
  *****************************************************/
 
+#include <cstdint>
 #include <random>
 #include <sys/stat.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 
-int fvec_fwrite(FILE* fo, const float* v, int d) {
+int fvec_fwrite(FILE* fo, const float* v, uint32_t d) {
     int ret;
-    ret = fwrite(&d, sizeof(int), 1, fo);
+    ret = fwrite(&d, sizeof(uint32_t), 1, fo);
     if (ret != 1) {
         perror("fvec_fwrite: write error 1");
         return -1;
@@ -38,7 +39,7 @@ int fvec_fwrite(FILE* fo, const float* v, int d) {
     return 0;
 }
 
-int fvecs_write(const char* fname, int d, int n, const float* vf) {
+int fvecs_write(const char* fname, uint32_t d, int n, const float* vf) {
     FILE* fo = fopen(fname, "w");
     if (!fo) {
         perror("fvecs_write: cannot open file");
@@ -55,22 +56,22 @@ int fvecs_write(const char* fname, int d, int n, const float* vf) {
     return n;
 }
 
-int ivec_iwrite(FILE* fo, const int* v, int d) {
+int ivec_iwrite(FILE* fo, const uint32_t* v, uint32_t d) {
     int ret;
-    ret = fwrite(&d, sizeof(int), 1, fo);
+    ret = fwrite(&d, sizeof(uint32_t), 1, fo);
     if (ret != 1) {
-        perror("fvec_fwrite: write error 1");
+        perror("ivec_iwrite: write error 1");
         return -1;
     }
-    ret = fwrite(v, sizeof(float), d, fo);
+    ret = fwrite(v, sizeof(uint32_t), d, fo);
     if (ret != d) {
-        perror("fvec_fwrite: write error 2");
+        perror("ivec_iwrite: write error 2");
         return -1;
     }
     return 0;
 }
 
-int ivecs_write(const char* fname, int d, int n, const int* vf) {
+int ivecs_write(const char* fname, uint32_t d, int n, const uint32_t* vf) {
     FILE* fo = fopen(fname, "w");
     if (!fo) {
         perror("fvecs_write: cannot open file");
@@ -93,7 +94,7 @@ void generate_random_data(size_t data_dim, size_t dataset_size, size_t query_siz
     std::default_random_engine generator;
     std::normal_distribution<float> dataset_dist(0.0f, dataset_std);
     std::normal_distribution<float> query_dist(0.0f, query_std);
-    std::uniform_int_distribution<> uni_dist(0, dataset_size - 1);
+    std::uniform_int_distribution<uint32_t> uni_dist(0, dataset_size - 1);
 
     generator.seed(100);
     std::vector<float> dataset(dataset_size * data_dim);
@@ -102,9 +103,9 @@ void generate_random_data(size_t data_dim, size_t dataset_size, size_t query_siz
     }
 
     std::vector<float> queries(query_size * data_dim);
-    std::vector<int> gt(query_size);
+    std::vector<uint32_t> gt(query_size);
     for (size_t i = 0; i < query_size; ++i) {
-        int e = uni_dist(generator);
+        uint32_t e = uni_dist(generator);
         for (size_t j = 0; j < data_dim; ++j) {
             queries[i * data_dim + j] = dataset[e * data_dim + j] + query_dist(generator);
         }