diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 7d41252..e9a4317 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ jobs:
           - version: '1'
             os: ubuntu-latest
             arch: x64
-          - version: '1.5'
+          - version: '1.10'
             os: ubuntu-latest
             arch: x64
           - version: 'nightly'
diff --git a/Project.toml b/Project.toml
index 656bea6..eedf346 100644
--- a/Project.toml
+++ b/Project.toml
@@ -1,20 +1,26 @@
 name = "MetaGraphs"
 uuid = "626554b9-1ddb-594c-aa3c-2596fe9399a5"
-version = "0.8.1"
+version = "0.9.0"
 
 [deps]
 Graphs = "86223c79-3864-5bf0-83f7-82e725a168b6"
-JLD2 = "033835bb-8acc-5ee8-8aae-3f567f8a3819"
 Random = "9a3f8284-a2c9-5f02-9a11-845980a1fd5c"
 
+[weakdeps]
+JLD2 = "033835bb-8acc-5ee8-8aae-3f567f8a3819"
+
+[extensions]
+MetaGraphsJLD2Ext = ["Graphs", "JLD2"]
+
 [compat]
 Graphs = "1.4"
 JLD2 = "0.1.11, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6"
-julia = "1"
+julia = "1.10"
 
 [extras]
 Base64 = "2a0f44e3-6c83-55bd-87e4-b1978d98bd5f"
+JLD2 = "033835bb-8acc-5ee8-8aae-3f567f8a3819"
 Test = "8dfed614-e22c-5e08-85e1-65c5234f0b40"
 
 [targets]
-test = ["Test", "Base64"]
+test = ["Test", "Base64", "JLD2"]
diff --git a/ext/MetaGraphsJLD2Ext.jl b/ext/MetaGraphsJLD2Ext.jl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f8b5fd2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ext/MetaGraphsJLD2Ext.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+module MetaGraphsJLD2Ext
+
+using Graphs
+using JLD2
+using MetaGraphs
+
+function MetaGraphs.loadmg(fn::AbstractString)
+    @load fn g
+    return g
+end
+
+function MetaGraphs.savemg(fn::AbstractString, g::AbstractMetaGraph)
+    @save fn g
+    return 1
+end
+
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/MetaGraphs.jl b/src/MetaGraphs.jl
index 06c3b3a..8a88435 100644
--- a/src/MetaGraphs.jl
+++ b/src/MetaGraphs.jl
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 module MetaGraphs
 using Graphs
-using JLD2
 
 import Base:
     eltype, show, ==, Pair,
@@ -582,4 +581,20 @@ include("metadigraph.jl")
 include("metagraph.jl")
 include("persistence.jl")
 include("overrides.jl")
+
+function __init__()
+    # Register error hint for the `loadmg` and `savemg`
+    if isdefined(Base.Experimental, :register_error_hint)
+        Base.Experimental.register_error_hint(MethodError) do io, exc, _, _
+            if exc.f === loadmg
+                print(io, "\n\nIn order to load meta graphs from binary files, you need \
+                to load the JLD2.jl package.")
+            elseif exc.f === savemg
+                print(io,"\n\nIn order to save meta graphs to binary files, you need to \
+                load the JLD2.jl package.")
+            end
+        end
+    end
+end
+
 end # module
diff --git a/src/persistence.jl b/src/persistence.jl
index 7f25788..c3f0825 100644
--- a/src/persistence.jl
+++ b/src/persistence.jl
@@ -3,18 +3,17 @@
 struct MGFormat <: AbstractGraphFormat end
 struct DOTFormat <: AbstractGraphFormat end
 
-function loadmg(fn::AbstractString)
-    @load fn g
-    return g
-end
+function loadmg end
+function savemg end
 
-function savemg(fn::AbstractString, g::AbstractMetaGraph)
-    @save fn g
-    return 1
-end
+loadgraph(fn::AbstractString, ::String, ::MGFormat) = loadmg(fn)
+savegraph(fn::AbstractString, g::AbstractMetaGraph) = savemg(fn, g)
 
-loadgraph(fn::AbstractString, gname::String, ::MGFormat) = loadmg(fn)
-savegraph(fn::AbstractString, g::AbstractMetaGraph) =  savemg(fn, g)
+function savegraph(fn::AbstractString, g::AbstractMetaGraph, ::DOTFormat)
+    open(fn, "w") do fp
+        savedot(fp, g)
+    end
+end
 
 # escaping unescaped quotation marks
 # i.e. replacing `"`` with `\"` while leaving `\"` as is
@@ -37,7 +36,6 @@ quote_prop(p::Any) = "\"" * escape_quotes(string(p)) * "\""
 # That will break if someone uses a DOT keyword as a property name, as they must be quoted.
 
 function savedot(io::IO, g::AbstractMetaGraph)
-
     if is_directed(g)
         write(io, "digraph G {\n")
         dash = "->"
@@ -73,9 +71,3 @@ function savedot(io::IO, g::AbstractMetaGraph)
     end
     write(io, "}\n")
 end
-
-function savegraph(fn::AbstractString, g::AbstractMetaGraph, ::DOTFormat)
-    open(fn, "w") do fp
-        savedot(fp, g)
-    end
-end
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index d562e53..2afed68 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 using Graphs
 using MetaGraphs
+
+using JLD2
 using Test
 
 import Graphs.SimpleGraphs: SimpleGraph, SimpleDiGraph