gesistsa · chainsawriot · Feb 23, 2026 · Feb 23, 2026
diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Package: rio
 Type: Package
 Title: A Swiss-Army Knife for Data I/O
-Version: 1.2.4
+Version: 1.2.5
 Authors@R: c(person("Jason", "Becker", role = "aut", email = "jason@jbecker.co"),
              person("Chung-hong", "Chan", role = c("aut", "cre"), email = "chainsawtiney@gmail.com",
 	     	     comment = c(ORCID = "0000-0002-6232-7530")),
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ Imports:
     tibble,
     writexl,
     lifecycle,
-    R.utils,
+    R.utils (>= 2.13.0),
     readr
 Suggests:
     datasets,
@@ -70,7 +70,6 @@ Suggests:
     rmatio,
     xml2 (>= 1.2.0),
     yaml,
-    qs,
     arrow (>= 0.17.0),
     stringi,
     withr,

diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ S3method(.export,rio_ods)
 S3method(.export,rio_parquet)
 S3method(.export,rio_psv)
 S3method(.export,rio_pzfx)
-S3method(.export,rio_qs)
 S3method(.export,rio_qs2)
 S3method(.export,rio_r)
 S3method(.export,rio_rda)
@@ -58,7 +57,6 @@ S3method(.import,rio_ods)
 S3method(.import,rio_parquet)
 S3method(.import,rio_psv)
 S3method(.import,rio_pzfx)
-S3method(.import,rio_qs)
 S3method(.import,rio_qs2)
 S3method(.import,rio_r)
 S3method(.import,rio_rda)

diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+# rio 1.2.5
+
+* Fix #473, remove support for `qs`
+
 # rio 1.2.4
 
 * Fix #463, export_list also allows ods and fods

diff --git a/R/export.R b/R/export.R
@@ -25,10 +25,7 @@
 #'     \item R syntax object (.R), using [base::dput()] (by default) or [base::dump()] (if `format = 'dump'`)
 #'     \item Saved R objects (.RData,.rda), using [base::save()]. In this case, `x` can be a data frame, a named list of objects, an R environment, or a character vector containing the names of objects if a corresponding `envir` argument is specified.
 #'     \item Serialized R objects (.rds), using [base::saveRDS()]. In this case, `x` can be any serializable R object.
-#'     \item Serialized R objects (.qs), using [qs::qsave()], which is
-#'     significantly faster than .rds. This can be any R
-#'     object (not just a data frame).
-#'     \item Serialized R objects (.qs2), using [qs2::qs_save()]. This is the future-proof successor to using (.qs).
+#'     \item Serialized R objects (.qs2), using [qs2::qs_save()].
 #'     \item "XBASE" database files (.dbf), using [foreign::write.dbf()]
 #'     \item Weka Attribute-Relation File Format (.arff), using [foreign::write.arff()]
 #'     \item Fixed-width format data (.fwf), using [utils::write.table()] with `row.names = FALSE`, `quote = FALSE`, and `col.names = FALSE`

diff --git a/R/export_methods.R b/R/export_methods.R
@@ -285,12 +285,6 @@ export_delim <- function(file, x, fwrite = lifecycle::deprecated(), sep = "\t",
     .docall(nanoparquet::write_parquet, ..., args = list(x = x, file = file))
 }
 
-#' @export
-.export.rio_qs <- function(file, x, ...) {
-    .check_pkg_availability("qs")
-    .docall(qs::qsave, ..., args = list(x = x, file = file))
-}
-
 #' @export
 .export.rio_qs2 <- function(file, x, ...) {
     .check_pkg_availability("qs2")

diff --git a/R/import.R b/R/import.R
@@ -30,10 +30,7 @@
 #'     \item R syntax object (.R), using [base::dget()], see `trust` below.
 #'     \item Saved R objects (.RData,.rda), using [base::load()] for single-object .Rdata files. Use `which` to specify an object name for multi-object .Rdata files. This can be any R object (not just a data frame), see `trust` below.
 #'     \item Serialized R objects (.rds), using [base::readRDS()]. This can be any R object (not just a data frame), see `trust` below.
-#'     \item Serialized R objects (.qs), using [qs::qread()], which is
-#'     significantly faster than .rds. This can be any R
-#'     object (not just a data frame).
-#'     \item Serialized R objects (.qs2), using [qs2::qs_read()]. This is the future-proof successor to using (.qs).
+#'     \item Serialized R objects (.qs2), using [qs2::qs_read()].
 #'     \item Epiinfo (.rec), using [foreign::read.epiinfo()]
 #'     \item Minitab (.mtp), using [foreign::read.mtp()]
 #'     \item Systat (.syd), using [foreign::read.systat()]

diff --git a/R/import_methods.R b/R/import_methods.R
@@ -420,12 +420,6 @@ extract_html_row <- function(x, empty_value) {
     .docall(nanoparquet::read_parquet, ..., args = list(file = file, options = nanoparquet::parquet_options(class = "data.frame")))
 }
 
-#' @export
-.import.rio_qs <- function(file, which = 1, ...) {
-    .check_pkg_availability("qs")
-    .docall(qs::qread, ..., args = list(file = file))
-}
-
 #' @export
 .import.rio_qs2 <- function(file, which = 1, ...) {
   .check_pkg_availability("qs2")

diff --git a/R/sysdata.rda b/R/sysdata.rda
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -14,11 +14,11 @@ coverage](https://codecov.io/gh/gesistsa/rio/graph/badge.svg)](https://app.codec
 The aim of **rio** is to make data file I/O in R as easy as possible by
 implementing two main functions in Swiss-army knife style:
 
-- `import()` provides a painless data import experience by automatically
-  choosing the appropriate import/read function based on file extension
-  (or a specified `format` argument)
-- `export()` provides the same painless file recognition for data
-  export/write functionality
+  - `import()` provides a painless data import experience by
+    automatically choosing the appropriate import/read function based on
+    file extension (or a specified `format` argument)
+  - `export()` provides the same painless file recognition for data
+    export/write functionality
 
 ## Installation
 
@@ -135,55 +135,54 @@ install_formats()
 
 The full list of supported formats is below:
 
-| Name | Extensions / “format” | Import Package | Export Package | Type | Note |
-|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
-| Archive files (handled by tar) | tar / tar.gz / tgz / tar.bz2 / tbz2 | utils | utils | Default |  |
-| Bzip2 | bz2 / bzip2 | base | base | Default |  |
-| Gzip | gz / gzip | base | base | Default |  |
-| Zip files | zip | utils | utils | Default |  |
-| Ambiguous file format | dat | data.table |  | Default | Attempt as delimited text data |
-| CSVY (CSV + YAML metadata header) | csvy | data.table | data.table | Default |  |
-| Comma-separated data | csv | data.table | data.table | Default |  |
-| Comma-separated data (European) | csv2 | data.table | data.table | Default |  |
-| Data Interchange Format | dif | utils |  | Default |  |
-| Epiinfo | epiinfo / rec | foreign |  | Default |  |
-| Excel | excel / xlsx | readxl | writexl | Default |  |
-| Excel (Legacy) | xls | readxl |  | Default |  |
-| Excel (Read only) | xlsm / xltx / xltm | readxl |  | Default |  |
-| Fixed-width format data | fwf | readr | utils | Default |  |
-| Fortran data | fortran | utils |  | Default | No recognized extension |
-| Google Sheets | googlesheets | data.table |  | Default | As comma-separated data |
-| Minitab | minitab / mtp | foreign |  | Default |  |
-| Pipe-separated data | psv | data.table | data.table | Default |  |
-| R syntax | r | base | base | Default |  |
-| SAS | sas / sas7bdat | haven | haven | Default | Export is deprecated |
-| SAS XPORT | xport / xpt | haven | haven | Default |  |
-| SPSS | sav / spss | haven | haven | Default |  |
-| SPSS (compressed) | zsav | haven | haven | Default |  |
-| SPSS Portable | por | haven |  | Default |  |
-| Saved R objects | rda / rdata | base | base | Default |  |
-| Serialized R objects | rds | base | base | Default |  |
-| Stata | dta / stata | haven | haven | Default |  |
-| Systat | syd / systat | foreign |  | Default |  |
-| Tab-separated data | / tsv / txt | data.table | data.table | Default |  |
-| Text Representations of R Objects | dump | base | base | Default |  |
-| Weka Attribute-Relation File Format | arff / weka | foreign | foreign | Default |  |
-| XBASE database files | dbf | foreign | foreign | Default |  |
-| Apache Arrow (Parquet) | parquet | nanoparquet | nanoparquet | Suggest |  |
-| Clipboard | clipboard | clipr | clipr | Suggest | default is tsv |
-| EViews | eviews / wf1 | hexView |  | Suggest |  |
-| Fast Storage | fst | fst | fst | Suggest |  |
-| Feather R/Python interchange format | feather | arrow | arrow | Suggest |  |
-| Graphpad Prism | pzfx | pzfx | pzfx | Suggest |  |
-| HTML Tables | htm / html | xml2 | xml2 | Suggest |  |
-| JSON | json | jsonlite | jsonlite | Suggest |  |
-| Matlab | mat / matlab | rmatio | rmatio | Suggest |  |
-| OpenDocument Spreadsheet | ods | readODS | readODS | Suggest |  |
-| OpenDocument Spreadsheet (Flat) | fods | readODS | readODS | Suggest |  |
-| Serialized R objects (qs) | qs | qs | qs | Suggest |  |
-| Serialized R objects (qs2) | qs2 | qs2 | qs2 | Suggest | Replaces {qs} package which will be deprecated. |
-| Shallow XML documents | xml | xml2 | xml2 | Suggest |  |
-| YAML | yaml / yml | yaml | yaml | Suggest |  |
+| Name                                | Extensions / “format”               | Import Package | Export Package | Type    | Note                           |
+| :---------------------------------- | :---------------------------------- | :------------- | :------------- | :------ | :----------------------------- |
+| Archive files (handled by tar)      | tar / tar.gz / tgz / tar.bz2 / tbz2 | utils          | utils          | Default |                                |
+| Bzip2                               | bz2 / bzip2                         | base           | base           | Default |                                |
+| Gzip                                | gz / gzip                           | base           | base           | Default |                                |
+| Zip files                           | zip                                 | utils          | utils          | Default |                                |
+| Ambiguous file format               | dat                                 | data.table     |                | Default | Attempt as delimited text data |
+| CSVY (CSV + YAML metadata header)   | csvy                                | data.table     | data.table     | Default |                                |
+| Comma-separated data                | csv                                 | data.table     | data.table     | Default |                                |
+| Comma-separated data (European)     | csv2                                | data.table     | data.table     | Default |                                |
+| Data Interchange Format             | dif                                 | utils          |                | Default |                                |
+| Epiinfo                             | epiinfo / rec                       | foreign        |                | Default |                                |
+| Excel                               | excel / xlsx                        | readxl         | writexl        | Default |                                |
+| Excel (Legacy)                      | xls                                 | readxl         |                | Default |                                |
+| Excel (Read only)                   | xlsm / xltx / xltm                  | readxl         |                | Default |                                |
+| Fixed-width format data             | fwf                                 | readr          | utils          | Default |                                |
+| Fortran data                        | fortran                             | utils          |                | Default | No recognized extension        |
+| Google Sheets                       | googlesheets                        | data.table     |                | Default | As comma-separated data        |
+| Minitab                             | minitab / mtp                       | foreign        |                | Default |                                |
+| Pipe-separated data                 | psv                                 | data.table     | data.table     | Default |                                |
+| R syntax                            | r                                   | base           | base           | Default |                                |
+| SAS                                 | sas / sas7bdat                      | haven          | haven          | Default | Export is deprecated           |
+| SAS XPORT                           | xport / xpt                         | haven          | haven          | Default |                                |
+| SPSS                                | sav / spss                          | haven          | haven          | Default |                                |
+| SPSS (compressed)                   | zsav                                | haven          | haven          | Default |                                |
+| SPSS Portable                       | por                                 | haven          |                | Default |                                |
+| Saved R objects                     | rda / rdata                         | base           | base           | Default |                                |
+| Serialized R objects                | rds                                 | base           | base           | Default |                                |
+| Stata                               | dta / stata                         | haven          | haven          | Default |                                |
+| Systat                              | syd / systat                        | foreign        |                | Default |                                |
+| Tab-separated data                  | / tsv / txt                         | data.table     | data.table     | Default |                                |
+| Text Representations of R Objects   | dump                                | base           | base           | Default |                                |
+| Weka Attribute-Relation File Format | arff / weka                         | foreign        | foreign        | Default |                                |
+| XBASE database files                | dbf                                 | foreign        | foreign        | Default |                                |
+| Apache Arrow (Parquet)              | parquet                             | nanoparquet    | nanoparquet    | Suggest |                                |
+| Clipboard                           | clipboard                           | clipr          | clipr          | Suggest | default is tsv                 |
+| EViews                              | eviews / wf1                        | hexView        |                | Suggest |                                |
+| Fast Storage                        | fst                                 | fst            | fst            | Suggest |                                |
+| Feather R/Python interchange format | feather                             | arrow          | arrow          | Suggest |                                |
+| Graphpad Prism                      | pzfx                                | pzfx           | pzfx           | Suggest |                                |
+| HTML Tables                         | htm / html                          | xml2           | xml2           | Suggest |                                |
+| JSON                                | json                                | jsonlite       | jsonlite       | Suggest |                                |
+| Matlab                              | mat / matlab                        | rmatio         | rmatio         | Suggest |                                |
+| OpenDocument Spreadsheet            | ods                                 | readODS        | readODS        | Suggest |                                |
+| OpenDocument Spreadsheet (Flat)     | fods                                | readODS        | readODS        | Suggest |                                |
+| Serialized R objects (qs2)          | qs2                                 | qs2            | qs2            | Suggest |                                |
+| Shallow XML documents               | xml                                 | xml2           | xml2           | Suggest |                                |
+| YAML                                | yaml / yml                          | yaml           | yaml           | Suggest |                                |
 
 Additionally, any format that is not supported by **rio** but that has a
 known R implementation will produce an informative error message
@@ -254,22 +253,23 @@ c("mtcars.tsv", "iris.tsv") %in% dir()
 
 ### GUIs
 
-- [**datamods**](https://cran.r-project.org/package=datamods) provides
-  Shiny modules for importing data via `rio`.
-- [**rioweb**](https://github.com/lbraglia/rioweb) that provides access
-  to the file conversion features of `rio`.
-- [**GREA**](https://github.com/Stan125/GREA/) is an RStudio add-in that
-  provides an interactive interface for reading in data using `rio`.
+  - [**datamods**](https://cran.r-project.org/package=datamods) provides
+    Shiny modules for importing data via `rio`.
+  - [**rioweb**](https://github.com/lbraglia/rioweb) that provides
+    access to the file conversion features of `rio`.
+  - [**GREA**](https://github.com/Stan125/GREA/) is an RStudio add-in
+    that provides an interactive interface for reading in data using
+    `rio`.
 
 ### Similar packages
 
-- [**reader**](https://cran.r-project.org/package=reader) handles
-  certain text formats and R binary files
-- [**io**](https://cran.r-project.org/package=io) offers a set of custom
-  formats
-- [**ImportExport**](https://cran.r-project.org/package=ImportExport)
-  focuses on select binary formats (Excel, SPSS, and Access files) and
-  provides a Shiny interface.
-- [**SchemaOnRead**](https://cran.r-project.org/package=SchemaOnRead)
-  iterates through a large number of possible import methods until one
-  works successfully
+  - [**reader**](https://cran.r-project.org/package=reader) handles
+    certain text formats and R binary files
+  - [**io**](https://cran.r-project.org/package=io) offers a set of
+    custom formats
+  - [**ImportExport**](https://cran.r-project.org/package=ImportExport)
+    focuses on select binary formats (Excel, SPSS, and Access files) and
+    provides a Shiny interface.
+  - [**SchemaOnRead**](https://cran.r-project.org/package=SchemaOnRead)
+    iterates through a large number of possible import methods until one
+    works successfully
diff --git a/data-raw/single.json b/data-raw/single.json
@@ -623,7 +623,7 @@
     {
         "input": "qs",
         "format": "qs",
-        "type": "suggest",
+        "type": "known",
         "format_name": "Serialized R objects (qs)",
         "import_function": "qs::qread",
         "export_function": "qs::qsave",
@@ -636,7 +636,7 @@
         "format_name": "Serialized R objects (qs2)",
         "import_function": "qs2::qs_save",
         "export_function": "qs2::qs_read",
-        "note": "Replaces {qs} package which will be deprecated."
+        "note": ""
     },
     {
         "input": "xml",

diff --git a/man/export.Rd b/man/export.Rd