diff --git a/docs/changelog/131907.yaml b/docs/changelog/131907.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..6e8db5dbb272f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog/131907.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+pr: 131907
+summary: Enable `exclude_source_vectors` by default for new indices
+area: Vector Search
+type: breaking
+issues: []
+breaking:
+  title: Enable `exclude_source_vectors` by default for new indices
+  area: Search
+  details: |-
+    The `exclude_source_vectors` setting is now enabled by default for newly created indices.
+    This means that vector fields (e.g., `dense_vector`) are no longer stored in the `_source` field
+    by default, although they remain fully accessible through search and retrieval operations.
+
+    Instead of being persisted in `_source`, vectors are now rehydrated on demand from the underlying
+    index structures when needed. This reduces index size and improves performance for typical vector
+    search workloads where the original vector values do not need to be part of the `_source`.
+
+    If your use case requires vector fields to be stored in `_source`, you can disable this behavior by
+    setting `exclude_source_vectors: false` at index creation time.
+  impact: |-
+    Vector fields will no longer be stored in `_source` by default for new indices. Applications or tools
+    that expect to see vector fields in `_source` (for raw document inspection)
+    may need to be updated or configured to explicitly retain vectors using `exclude_source_vectors: false`.
+
+    Retrieval of vector fields via search or the `_source` API remains fully supported.
+  notable: true
diff --git a/docs/reference/elasticsearch/mapping-reference/dense-vector.md b/docs/reference/elasticsearch/mapping-reference/dense-vector.md
index 2cd1613118edb..0dc84889d4799 100644
--- a/docs/reference/elasticsearch/mapping-reference/dense-vector.md
+++ b/docs/reference/elasticsearch/mapping-reference/dense-vector.md
@@ -102,6 +102,81 @@ PUT my-index-2
 
 {{es}} uses the [HNSW algorithm](https://arxiv.org/abs/1603.09320) to support efficient kNN search. Like most kNN algorithms, HNSW is an approximate method that sacrifices result accuracy for improved speed.
 
+## Accessing `dense_vector` fields in search responses
+```{applies_to}
+stack: ga 9.2
+serverless: ga
+```
+
+By default, `dense_vector` fields are **not included in `_source`** in responses from the `_search`, `_msearch`, `_get`, and `_mget` APIs.
+This helps reduce response size and improve performance, especially in scenarios where vectors are used solely for similarity scoring and not required in the output.
+
+To retrieve vector values explicitly, you can use:
+
+* The `fields` option to request specific vector fields directly:
+
+```console
+POST my-index-2/_search
+{
+  "fields": ["my_vector"]
+}
+```
+
+- The `_source.exclude_vectors` flag to re-enable vector inclusion in `_source` responses:
+
+```console
+POST my-index-2/_search
+{
+  "_source": {
+    "exclude_vectors": false
+  }
+}
+```
+
+### Storage behavior and `_source`
+
+By default, `dense_vector` fields are **not stored in `_source`** on disk. This is also controlled by the index setting `index.mapping.exclude_source_vectors`.
+This setting is enabled by default for newly created indices and can only be set at index creation time.
+
+When enabled:
+
+* `dense_vector` fields are removed from `_source` and the rest of the `_source` is stored as usual.
+* If a request includes `_source` and vector values are needed (e.g., during recovery or reindex), the vectors are rehydrated from their internal format.
+
+This setting is compatible with synthetic `_source`, where the entire `_source` document is reconstructed from columnar storage. In full synthetic mode, no `_source` is stored on disk, and all fields — including vectors — are rebuilt when needed.
+
+### Rehydration and precision
+
+When vector values are rehydrated (e.g., for reindex, recovery, or explicit `_source` requests), they are restored from their internal format. Internally, vectors are stored at float precision, so if they were originally indexed as higher-precision types (e.g., `double` or `long`), the rehydrated values will have reduced precision. This lossy representation is intended to save space while preserving search quality.
+
+### Storing original vectors in `_source`
+
+If you want to preserve the original vector values exactly as they were provided, you can re-enable vector storage in `_source`:
+
+```console
+PUT my-index-include-vectors
+{
+  "settings": {
+    "index.mapping.exclude_source_vectors": false
+  },
+  "mappings": {
+    "properties": {
+      "my_vector": {
+        "type": "dense_vector"
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
+```
+
+When this setting is disabled:
+
+* `dense_vector` fields are stored as part of the `_source`, exactly as indexed.
+* The index will store both the original `_source` value and the internal representation used for vector search, resulting in increased storage usage.
+* Vectors are once again returned in `_source` by default in all relevant APIs, with no need to use `exclude_vectors` or `fields`.
+
+This configuration is appropriate when full source fidelity is required, such as for auditing or round-tripping exact input values.
+
 ## Automatically quantize vectors for kNN search [dense-vector-quantization]
 
 The `dense_vector` type supports quantization to reduce the memory footprint required when [searching](docs-content://solutions/search/vector/knn.md#approximate-knn) `float` vectors. The three following quantization strategies are supported:
@@ -266,16 +341,16 @@ $$$dense-vector-index-options$$$
 `type`
 :   (Required, string) The type of kNN algorithm to use. Can be either any of:
     * `hnsw` - This utilizes the [HNSW algorithm](https://arxiv.org/abs/1603.09320) for scalable approximate kNN search. This supports all `element_type` values.
-    * `int8_hnsw` - The default index type for some float vectors: 
-        
-      * {applies_to}`stack: ga 9.1` Default for float vectors with less than 384 dimensions. 
+    * `int8_hnsw` - The default index type for some float vectors:
+
+      * {applies_to}`stack: ga 9.1` Default for float vectors with less than 384 dimensions.
       * {applies_to}`stack: ga 9.0` Default for float all vectors.
-      
+
       This utilizes the [HNSW algorithm](https://arxiv.org/abs/1603.09320) in addition to automatically scalar quantization for scalable approximate kNN search with `element_type` of `float`. This can reduce the memory footprint by 4x at the cost of some accuracy. See [Automatically quantize vectors for kNN search](#dense-vector-quantization).
     * `int4_hnsw` - This utilizes the [HNSW algorithm](https://arxiv.org/abs/1603.09320) in addition to automatically scalar quantization for scalable approximate kNN search with `element_type` of `float`. This can reduce the memory footprint by 8x at the cost of some accuracy. See [Automatically quantize vectors for kNN search](#dense-vector-quantization).
     * `bbq_hnsw` - This utilizes the [HNSW algorithm](https://arxiv.org/abs/1603.09320) in addition to automatically binary quantization for scalable approximate kNN search with `element_type` of `float`. This can reduce the memory footprint by 32x at the cost of accuracy. See [Automatically quantize vectors for kNN search](#dense-vector-quantization).
-        
-      {applies_to}`stack: ga 9.1` `bbq_hnsw` is the default index type for float vectors with greater than or equal to 384 dimensions. 
+
+      {applies_to}`stack: ga 9.1` `bbq_hnsw` is the default index type for float vectors with greater than or equal to 384 dimensions.
     * `flat` - This utilizes a brute-force search algorithm for exact kNN search. This supports all `element_type` values.
     * `int8_flat` - This utilizes a brute-force search algorithm in addition to automatically scalar quantization. Only supports `element_type` of `float`.
     * `int4_flat` - This utilizes a brute-force search algorithm in addition to automatically half-byte scalar quantization. Only supports `element_type` of `float`.
@@ -295,8 +370,8 @@ $$$dense-vector-index-options$$$
 :   (Optional, object) An optional section that configures automatic vector rescoring on knn queries for the given field. Only applicable to quantized index types.
 :::::{dropdown} Properties of rescore_vector
 `oversample`
-:   (required, float) The amount to oversample the search results by. This value should be one of the following: 
-    * Greater than `1.0` and less than `10.0` 
+:   (required, float) The amount to oversample the search results by. This value should be one of the following:
+    * Greater than `1.0` and less than `10.0`
     * Exactly `0` to indicate no oversampling and rescoring should occur {applies_to}`stack: ga 9.1`
     :   The higher the value, the more vectors will be gathered and rescored with the raw values per shard.
     :   In case a knn query specifies a `rescore_vector` parameter, the query `rescore_vector` parameter will be used instead.
diff --git a/docs/reference/elasticsearch/mapping-reference/rank-vectors.md b/docs/reference/elasticsearch/mapping-reference/rank-vectors.md
index 20683e89b164c..2c22dd08ae1b0 100644
--- a/docs/reference/elasticsearch/mapping-reference/rank-vectors.md
+++ b/docs/reference/elasticsearch/mapping-reference/rank-vectors.md
@@ -108,11 +108,81 @@ $$$rank-vectors-element-type$$$
 `dims`
 :   (Optional, integer) Number of vector dimensions. Can’t exceed `4096`. If `dims` is not specified, it will be set to the length of the first vector added to the field.
 
+## Accessing `dense_vector` fields in search responses
+```{applies_to}
+stack: ga 9.2
+serverless: ga
+```
+
+By default, `dense_vector` fields are **not included in `_source`** in responses from the `_search`, `_msearch`, `_get`, and `_mget` APIs.
+This helps reduce response size and improve performance, especially in scenarios where vectors are used solely for similarity scoring and not required in the output.
+
+To retrieve vector values explicitly, you can use:
+
+* The `fields` option to request specific vector fields directly:
+
+```console
+POST my-index-2/_search
+{
+  "fields": ["my_vector"]
+}
+```
+
+- The `_source.exclude_vectors` flag to re-enable vector inclusion in `_source` responses:
+
+```console
+POST my-index-2/_search
+{
+  "_source": {
+    "exclude_vectors": false
+  }
+}
+```
+
+### Storage behavior and `_source`
+
+By default, `rank_vectors` fields are not stored in `_source` on disk. This is also controlled by the index setting `index.mapping.exclude_source_vectors`.
+This setting is enabled by default for newly created indices and can only be set at index creation time.
+
+When enabled:
+
+* `rank_vectors` fields are removed from `_source` and the rest of the `_source` is stored as usual.
+* If a request includes `_source` and vector values are needed (e.g., during recovery or reindex), the vectors are rehydrated from their internal format.
+
+This setting is compatible with synthetic `_source`, where the entire `_source` document is reconstructed from columnar storage. In full synthetic mode, no `_source` is stored on disk, and all fields — including vectors — are rebuilt when needed.
+
+### Rehydration and precision
+
+When vector values are rehydrated (e.g., for reindex, recovery, or explicit `_source` requests), they are restored from their internal format. Internally, vectors are stored at float precision, so if they were originally indexed as higher-precision types (e.g., `double` or `long`), the rehydrated values will have reduced precision. This lossy representation is intended to save space while preserving search quality.
+
+### Storing original vectors in `_source`
+
+If you want to preserve the original vector values exactly as they were provided, you can re-enable vector storage in `_source`:
+
+```console
+PUT my-index-include-vectors
+{
+  "settings": {
+    "index.mapping.exclude_source_vectors": false
+  },
+  "mappings": {
+    "properties": {
+      "my_vector": {
+        "type": "rank_vectors",
+        "dims": 128
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
+```
 
-## Synthetic `_source` [rank-vectors-synthetic-source]
+When this setting is disabled:
 
-`rank_vectors` fields support [synthetic `_source`](mapping-source-field.md#synthetic-source) .
+* `rank_vectors` fields are stored as part of the `_source`, exactly as indexed.
+* The index will store both the original `_source` value and the internal representation used for vector search, resulting in increased storage usage.
+* Vectors are once again returned in `_source` by default in all relevant APIs, with no need to use `exclude_vectors` or `fields`.
 
+This configuration is appropriate when full source fidelity is required, such as for auditing or round-tripping exact input values.
 
 ## Scoring with rank vectors [rank-vectors-scoring]
 
diff --git a/docs/reference/elasticsearch/mapping-reference/sparse-vector.md b/docs/reference/elasticsearch/mapping-reference/sparse-vector.md
index 3a65ea4fc5ff8..5cb009ddcf302 100644
--- a/docs/reference/elasticsearch/mapping-reference/sparse-vector.md
+++ b/docs/reference/elasticsearch/mapping-reference/sparse-vector.md
@@ -57,12 +57,6 @@ See [semantic search with ELSER](docs-content://solutions/search/semantic-search
 
 The following parameters are accepted by `sparse_vector` fields:
 
-[store](/reference/elasticsearch/mapping-reference/mapping-store.md)
-:   Indicates whether the field value should be stored and retrievable independently of the [_source](/reference/elasticsearch/mapping-reference/mapping-source-field.md) field. Accepted values: true or false (default). The field’s data is stored using term vectors, a disk-efficient structure compared to the original JSON input. The input map can be retrieved during a search request via the [`fields` parameter](/reference/elasticsearch/rest-apis/retrieve-selected-fields.md#search-fields-param). To benefit from reduced disk usage, you must either:
-
-    * Exclude the field from [_source](/reference/elasticsearch/rest-apis/retrieve-selected-fields.md#source-filtering).
-    * Use [synthetic `_source`](/reference/elasticsearch/mapping-reference/mapping-source-field.md#synthetic-source).
-
 index_options {applies_to}`stack: ga 9.1`
 :   (Optional, object) You can set index options for your  `sparse_vector` field to determine if you should prune tokens, and the parameter configurations for the token pruning. If pruning options are not set in your [`sparse_vector` query](/reference/query-languages/query-dsl/query-dsl-sparse-vector-query.md), Elasticsearch will use the default options configured for the field, if any.
 
@@ -96,6 +90,82 @@ This ensures that:
 * The tokens that are kept are frequent enough and have significant scoring.
 * Very infrequent tokens that may not have as high of a score are removed.
 
+## Accessing `dense_vector` fields in search responses
+```{applies_to}
+stack: ga 9.2
+serverless: ga
+```
+
+By default, `dense_vector` fields are **not included in `_source`** in responses from the `_search`, `_msearch`, `_get`, and `_mget` APIs.
+This helps reduce response size and improve performance, especially in scenarios where vectors are used solely for similarity scoring and not required in the output.
+
+To retrieve vector values explicitly, you can use:
+
+* The `fields` option to request specific vector fields directly:
+
+```console
+POST my-index-2/_search
+{
+  "fields": ["my_vector"]
+}
+```
+
+- The `_source.exclude_vectors` flag to re-enable vector inclusion in `_source` responses:
+
+```console
+POST my-index-2/_search
+{
+  "_source": {
+    "exclude_vectors": false
+  }
+}
+```
+
+### Storage behavior and `_source`
+
+By default, `sparse_vector` fields are not stored in `_source` on disk. This is also controlled by the index setting `index.mapping.exclude_source_vectors`.
+This setting is enabled by default for newly created indices and can only be set at index creation time.
+
+When enabled:
+
+* `sparse_vector` fields are removed from `_source` and the rest of the `_source` is stored as usual.
+* If a request includes `_source` and vector values are needed (e.g., during recovery or reindex), the vectors are rehydrated from their internal format.
+
+This setting is compatible with synthetic `_source`, where the entire `_source` document is reconstructed from columnar storage. In full synthetic mode, no `_source` is stored on disk, and all fields — including vectors — are rebuilt when needed.
+
+### Rehydration and precision
+
+When vector values are rehydrated (e.g., for reindex, recovery, or explicit `_source` requests), they are restored from their internal format.
+Internally, vectors are stored as floats with 9 significant bits for the precision, so the rehydrated values will have reduced precision.
+This lossy representation is intended to save space while preserving search quality.
+
+### Storing original vectors in `_source`
+
+If you want to preserve the original vector values exactly as they were provided, you can re-enable vector storage in `_source`:
+
+```console
+PUT my-index-include-vectors
+{
+  "settings": {
+    "index.mapping.exclude_source_vectors": false
+  },
+  "mappings": {
+    "properties": {
+      "my_vector": {
+        "type": "sparse_vector"
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
+```
+
+When this setting is disabled:
+
+* `sparse_vector` fields are stored as part of the `_source`, exactly as indexed.
+* The index will store both the original `_source` value and the internal representation used for vector search, resulting in increased storage usage.
+* Vectors are once again returned in `_source` by default in all relevant APIs, with no need to use `exclude_vectors` or `fields`.
+
+This configuration is appropriate when full source fidelity is required, such as for auditing or round-tripping exact input values.
 
 ## Multi-value sparse vectors [index-multi-value-sparse-vectors]
 
diff --git a/modules/reindex/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/reindex/ReindexBasicTests.java b/modules/reindex/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/reindex/ReindexBasicTests.java
index 96c7ef49f6956..92aa897bf6287 100644
--- a/modules/reindex/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/reindex/ReindexBasicTests.java
+++ b/modules/reindex/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/reindex/ReindexBasicTests.java
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
-import static org.elasticsearch.index.IndexSettings.SYNTHETIC_VECTORS;
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryBuilders.termQuery;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertAcked;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertHitCount;
@@ -182,14 +181,13 @@ public void testReindexFromComplexDateMathIndexName() throws Exception {
     }
 
     public void testReindexIncludeVectors() throws Exception {
-        assumeTrue("This test requires synthetic vectors to be enabled", SYNTHETIC_VECTORS);
         var resp1 = prepareCreate("test").setSettings(
-            Settings.builder().put(IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_SOURCE_SYNTHETIC_VECTORS_SETTING.getKey(), true).build()
+            Settings.builder().put(IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_SETTING.getKey(), true).build()
         ).setMapping("foo", "type=dense_vector,similarity=l2_norm", "bar", "type=sparse_vector").get();
         assertAcked(resp1);
 
         var resp2 = prepareCreate("test_reindex").setSettings(
-            Settings.builder().put(IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_SOURCE_SYNTHETIC_VECTORS_SETTING.getKey(), true).build()
+            Settings.builder().put(IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_SETTING.getKey(), true).build()
         ).setMapping("foo", "type=dense_vector,similarity=l2_norm", "bar", "type=sparse_vector").get();
         assertAcked(resp2);
 
@@ -237,5 +235,4 @@ public void testReindexIncludeVectors() throws Exception {
             searchResponse.decRef();
         }
     }
-
 }
diff --git a/modules/reindex/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/reindex/UpdateByQueryBasicTests.java b/modules/reindex/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/reindex/UpdateByQueryBasicTests.java
index 33c80e9138d28..2ff1a258afb1d 100644
--- a/modules/reindex/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/reindex/UpdateByQueryBasicTests.java
+++ b/modules/reindex/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/reindex/UpdateByQueryBasicTests.java
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
-import static org.elasticsearch.index.IndexSettings.SYNTHETIC_VECTORS;
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryBuilders.termQuery;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertAcked;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertHitCount;
@@ -158,9 +157,8 @@ public void testMissingSources() {
     }
 
     public void testUpdateByQueryIncludeVectors() throws Exception {
-        assumeTrue("This test requires synthetic vectors to be enabled", SYNTHETIC_VECTORS);
         var resp1 = prepareCreate("test").setSettings(
-            Settings.builder().put(IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_SOURCE_SYNTHETIC_VECTORS_SETTING.getKey(), true).build()
+            Settings.builder().put(IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_SETTING.getKey(), true).build()
         ).setMapping("foo", "type=dense_vector,similarity=l2_norm", "bar", "type=sparse_vector").get();
         assertAcked(resp1);
 
diff --git a/rest-api-spec/build.gradle b/rest-api-spec/build.gradle
index f2142e8ba1c8d..c11259b202002 100644
--- a/rest-api-spec/build.gradle
+++ b/rest-api-spec/build.gradle
@@ -90,6 +90,10 @@ tasks.named("yamlRestCompatTestTransform").configure ({ task ->
   task.skipTest("indices.create/21_synthetic_source_stored/field param - keep root array", "Synthetic source keep arrays now stores leaf arrays natively")
   task.skipTest("cluster.info/30_info_thread_pool/Cluster HTTP Info", "The search_throttled thread pool has been removed")
   task.skipTest("synonyms/80_synonyms_from_index/Fail loading synonyms from index if synonyms_set doesn't exist", "Synonyms do no longer fail if the synonyms_set doesn't exist")
+  task.skipTest("get/100_synthetic_source/indexed dense vectors", "Vectors are not returned by default")
+  task.skipTest("get/100_synthetic_source/non-indexed dense vectors", "Vectors are not returned by default")
+  task.skipTest("search.vectors/90_sparse_vector/stored sparse_vector synthetic source", "Vectors are not returned by default")
+  task.skipTest("search.vectors/90_sparse_vector/sparse_vector synthetic source", "Vectors are not returned by default")
   task.skipTest("update/100_synthetic_source/keyword", "synthetic recovery source means _recovery_source field will not be present")
   task.skipTest("update/100_synthetic_source/stored text", "synthetic recovery source means _recovery_source field will not be present")
 })
diff --git a/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/get/100_synthetic_source.yml b/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/get/100_synthetic_source.yml
index a0061272a2c23..91a1d1bf9ef40 100644
--- a/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/get/100_synthetic_source.yml
+++ b/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/get/100_synthetic_source.yml
@@ -427,6 +427,11 @@ indexed dense vectors:
   - requires:
       cluster_features: ["gte_v8.5.0"]
       reason: introduced in 8.5.0
+      test_runner_features: [ capabilities ]
+      capabilities:
+        - method: GET
+          path: /_search
+          capabilities: [ exclude_source_vectors_setting ]
 
   - do:
       indices.create:
@@ -457,6 +462,8 @@ indexed dense vectors:
       get:
         index: test
         id:    1
+        _source_exclude_vectors: false
+
   - match: {_index: "test"}
   - match: {_id: "1"}
   - match: {_version: 1}
@@ -472,6 +479,11 @@ non-indexed dense vectors:
   - requires:
       cluster_features: ["gte_v8.5.0"]
       reason: introduced in 8.5.0
+      test_runner_features: [ capabilities ]
+      capabilities:
+        - method: GET
+          path: /_search
+          capabilities: [ exclude_source_vectors_setting ]
 
   - do:
       indices.create:
@@ -501,6 +513,8 @@ non-indexed dense vectors:
       get:
         index: test
         id:    1
+        _source_exclude_vectors: false
+
   - match: {_index: "test"}
   - match: {_id: "1"}
   - match: {_version: 1}
diff --git a/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/search.vectors/240_source_synthetic_dense_vectors.yml b/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/search.vectors/240_source_synthetic_dense_vectors.yml
index 414f6cfdad645..68f8c868b4e7e 100644
--- a/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/search.vectors/240_source_synthetic_dense_vectors.yml
+++ b/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/search.vectors/240_source_synthetic_dense_vectors.yml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ setup:
       capabilities:
         - method: GET
           path: /_search
-          capabilities: [ synthetic_vectors_setting ]
+          capabilities: [ exclude_source_vectors_setting ]
   - skip:
       features: "headers"
 
@@ -13,8 +13,6 @@ setup:
       indices.create:
         index: test
         body:
-          settings:
-            index.mapping.synthetic_vectors: true
           mappings:
             properties:
               name:
diff --git a/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/search.vectors/250_source_synthetic_sparse_vectors.yml b/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/search.vectors/250_source_synthetic_sparse_vectors.yml
index 53f0cd33da7d3..8397b48866204 100644
--- a/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/search.vectors/250_source_synthetic_sparse_vectors.yml
+++ b/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/search.vectors/250_source_synthetic_sparse_vectors.yml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ setup:
       capabilities:
         - method: GET
           path: /_search
-          capabilities: [ synthetic_vectors_setting ]
+          capabilities: [ exclude_source_vectors_setting ]
   - skip:
       features: "headers"
 
@@ -13,8 +13,6 @@ setup:
       indices.create:
         index: test
         body:
-          settings:
-            index.mapping.synthetic_vectors: true
           mappings:
             properties:
               name:
diff --git a/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/search.vectors/90_sparse_vector.yml b/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/search.vectors/90_sparse_vector.yml
index 0b65a69bf500e..b521b2866f9c5 100644
--- a/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/search.vectors/90_sparse_vector.yml
+++ b/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/search.vectors/90_sparse_vector.yml
@@ -387,8 +387,13 @@
 "sparse_vector synthetic source":
 
   - requires:
-      cluster_features: [ "mapper.source.mode_from_index_setting" ]
+      cluster_features: [ "mapper.source.mode_from_index_setting"]
       reason: "Source mode configured through index setting"
+      test_runner_features: [ capabilities, "close_to" ]
+      capabilities:
+        - method: GET
+          path: /_search
+          capabilities: [ exclude_vectors_param, exclude_source_vectors_setting ]
 
   - do:
       indices.create:
@@ -402,6 +407,18 @@
               ml.tokens:
                 type: sparse_vector
 
+  - do:
+      indices.create:
+        index: test_include_vectors
+        body:
+          settings:
+            index:
+              mapping.exclude_source_vectors: false
+          mappings:
+            properties:
+              ml.tokens:
+                type: sparse_vector
+
   - match: { acknowledged: true }
 
   - do:
@@ -421,7 +438,7 @@
 
   - do:
       index:
-        index: test
+        index: test_include_vectors
         id: "2"
         body:
           ml:
@@ -431,7 +448,7 @@
 
   - do:
       index:
-        index: test
+        index: test_include_vectors
         id: "3"
         body:
           ml:
@@ -446,20 +463,17 @@
       get:
         index: test
         id: "1"
+        _source_exclude_vectors: false
 
-  - match:
-      _source:
-        ml:
-          tokens:
-            running: 2.4097164
-            good: 2.170997
-            run: 2.052153
-            race: 1.4575411
-            for: 1.1908325
+  - close_to: { _source.ml.tokens.running: { value: 2.4097164, error: 0.01 } }
+  - close_to: { _source.ml.tokens.good: { value: 2.170997, error: 0.01 } }
+  - close_to: { _source.ml.tokens.run: { value: 2.052153, error: 0.01 } }
+  - close_to: { _source.ml.tokens.race: { value: 1.4575411, error: 0.01 } }
+  - close_to: { _source.ml.tokens.for: { value: 1.1908325, error: 0.01 } }
 
   - do:
       get:
-        index: test
+        index: test_include_vectors
         id: "2"
 
   - match:
@@ -467,7 +481,7 @@
 
   - do:
       get:
-        index: test
+        index: test_include_vectors
         id: "3"
 
   - match:
@@ -527,8 +541,14 @@
 "stored sparse_vector synthetic source":
 
   - requires:
-      cluster_features: [ "mapper.source.mode_from_index_setting", "mapper.sparse_vector.store_support" ]
       reason: "sparse_vector supports store parameter"
+      cluster_features: [ "mapper.source.mode_from_index_setting", "mapper.sparse_vector.store_support" ]
+      test_runner_features: [ capabilities, "close_to" ]
+      capabilities:
+        - method: GET
+          path: /_search
+          capabilities: [ exclude_vectors_param ]
+
 
   - do:
       indices.create:
@@ -567,6 +587,8 @@
       search:
         index: test
         body:
+          _source:
+            exclude_vectors: false
           fields: [ "ml.tokens" ]
 
   - match:
diff --git a/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/ExistsIT.java b/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/ExistsIT.java
index 26b040e2309c2..bb48e6c70b4a4 100644
--- a/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/ExistsIT.java
+++ b/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/ExistsIT.java
@@ -88,9 +88,9 @@ public void testExists() throws Exception {
             // object fields
             singletonMap("bar", barObject),
             singletonMap("bar", singletonMap("baz", 42)),
-            // sparse_vector field empty
-            singletonMap("vec", emptyMap()),
-            // sparse_vector field non-empty
+            // sparse_vector field
+            singletonMap("vec", singletonMap("6", 100)),
+            // sparse_vector field
             singletonMap("vec", singletonMap("1", 100)),
             // empty doc
             emptyMap() };
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/IndexScopedSettings.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/IndexScopedSettings.java
index 9f4c5b80ccf23..93ddb5d3fc485 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/IndexScopedSettings.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/IndexScopedSettings.java
@@ -49,8 +49,6 @@
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
 
-import static org.elasticsearch.index.IndexSettings.SYNTHETIC_VECTORS;
-
 /**
  * Encapsulates all valid index level settings.
  * @see Property#IndexScope
@@ -243,9 +241,7 @@ public final class IndexScopedSettings extends AbstractScopedSettings {
         if (IndexSettings.DOC_VALUES_SKIPPER) {
             settings.add(IndexSettings.USE_DOC_VALUES_SKIPPER);
         }
-        if (SYNTHETIC_VECTORS) {
-            settings.add(IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_SOURCE_SYNTHETIC_VECTORS_SETTING);
-        }
+        settings.add(IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_SETTING);
         BUILT_IN_INDEX_SETTINGS = Collections.unmodifiableSet(settings);
     };
 
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/IndexSettings.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/IndexSettings.java
index cd78d4323f44b..a6335ca6666b0 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/IndexSettings.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/IndexSettings.java
@@ -848,12 +848,12 @@ private static String getIgnoreAboveDefaultValue(final Settings settings) {
         Property.Final
     );
 
-    public static final boolean SYNTHETIC_VECTORS = new FeatureFlag("mapping_synthetic_vectors").isEnabled();
-    public static final Setting<Boolean> INDEX_MAPPING_SOURCE_SYNTHETIC_VECTORS_SETTING = Setting.boolSetting(
-        "index.mapping.synthetic_vectors",
-        false,
+    public static final Setting<Boolean> INDEX_MAPPING_EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_SETTING = Setting.boolSetting(
+        "index.mapping.exclude_source_vectors",
+        settings -> String.valueOf(SETTING_INDEX_VERSION_CREATED.get(settings).onOrAfter(IndexVersions.EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_DEFAULT)),
         Property.IndexScope,
-        Property.Final
+        Property.Final,
+        Property.ServerlessPublic
     );
 
     private final Index index;
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/IndexVersions.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/IndexVersions.java
index 57fcc2bc763be..221bc9264b100 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/IndexVersions.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/IndexVersions.java
@@ -181,6 +181,7 @@ private static Version parseUnchecked(String version) {
     public static final IndexVersion DEFAULT_DENSE_VECTOR_TO_BBQ_HNSW = def(9_032_0_00, Version.LUCENE_10_2_2);
     public static final IndexVersion MATCH_ONLY_TEXT_STORED_AS_BYTES = def(9_033_0_00, Version.LUCENE_10_2_2);
     public static final IndexVersion IGNORED_SOURCE_FIELDS_PER_ENTRY_WITH_FF = def(9_034_0_00, Version.LUCENE_10_2_2);
+    public static final IndexVersion EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_DEFAULT = def(9_035_0_00, Version.LUCENE_10_2_2);
 
     /*
      * STOP! READ THIS FIRST! No, really,
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/TranslogOperationAsserter.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/TranslogOperationAsserter.java
index 2cd3a9f755ffb..0898711aee809 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/TranslogOperationAsserter.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/TranslogOperationAsserter.java
@@ -41,8 +41,10 @@ public boolean assertSameIndexOperation(Translog.Index o1, Translog.Index o2) th
                 if (engineConfig.getIndexSettings().isRecoverySourceSyntheticEnabled()
                     || engineConfig.getMapperService().mappingLookup().inferenceFields().isEmpty() == false
                     || engineConfig.getMapperService().mappingLookup().syntheticVectorFields().isEmpty() == false) {
-                    return super.assertSameIndexOperation(synthesizeSource(engineConfig, o1), o2)
-                        || super.assertSameIndexOperation(o1, synthesizeSource(engineConfig, o2));
+                    // for synthetic source and synthetic fields, we check that the resulting source map is equivalent
+                    // since ordering might not be preserved.
+                    return Translog.Index.equalsWithoutAutoGeneratedTimestamp(synthesizeSource(engineConfig, o1), o2, false)
+                        || Translog.Index.equalsWithoutAutoGeneratedTimestamp(o1, synthesizeSource(engineConfig, o2), false);
                 }
                 return false;
             }
@@ -99,6 +101,6 @@ static Translog.Snapshot newSnapshot(EngineConfig engineConfig, Translog.Index o
     }
 
     public boolean assertSameIndexOperation(Translog.Index o1, Translog.Index o2) throws IOException {
-        return Translog.Index.equalsWithoutAutoGeneratedTimestamp(o1, o2);
+        return Translog.Index.equalsWithoutAutoGeneratedTimestamp(o1, o2, true);
     }
 }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/get/ShardGetService.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/get/ShardGetService.java
index ec0ad1acd917f..6688523bfe668 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/get/ShardGetService.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/get/ShardGetService.java
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@
 import java.util.function.Function;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
-import static org.elasticsearch.index.IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_SOURCE_SYNTHETIC_VECTORS_SETTING;
+import static org.elasticsearch.index.IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_SETTING;
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.seqno.SequenceNumbers.UNASSIGNED_PRIMARY_TERM;
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.seqno.SequenceNumbers.UNASSIGNED_SEQ_NO;
 
@@ -418,7 +418,7 @@ private GetResult innerGetFetch(
      */
     public static boolean shouldExcludeVectorsFromSource(IndexSettings indexSettings, FetchSourceContext fetchSourceContext) {
         if (fetchSourceContext == null || fetchSourceContext.excludeVectors() == null) {
-            return INDEX_MAPPING_SOURCE_SYNTHETIC_VECTORS_SETTING.get(indexSettings.getSettings());
+            return INDEX_MAPPING_EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_SETTING.get(indexSettings.getSettings());
         }
         return fetchSourceContext.excludeVectors();
     }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentParser.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentParser.java
index 1a248f2dd501e..87017a24765dc 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentParser.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentParser.java
@@ -794,7 +794,7 @@ private static void postProcessDynamicArrayMapping(DocumentParserContext context
             DenseVectorFieldMapper.Builder builder = new DenseVectorFieldMapper.Builder(
                 fieldName,
                 context.indexSettings().getIndexVersionCreated(),
-                IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_SOURCE_SYNTHETIC_VECTORS_SETTING.get(context.indexSettings().getSettings())
+                IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_SETTING.get(context.indexSettings().getSettings())
             );
             builder.dimensions(mappers.size());
             DenseVectorFieldMapper denseVectorFieldMapper = builder.build(builderContext);
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/DenseVectorFieldMapper.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/DenseVectorFieldMapper.java
index cde64f54c80d5..9c5d28a4942d3 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/DenseVectorFieldMapper.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/DenseVectorFieldMapper.java
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@
 import static org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetadata.SETTING_INDEX_VERSION_CREATED;
 import static org.elasticsearch.common.Strings.format;
 import static org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentParserUtils.ensureExpectedToken;
-import static org.elasticsearch.index.IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_SOURCE_SYNTHETIC_VECTORS_SETTING;
+import static org.elasticsearch.index.IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_SETTING;
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.codec.vectors.IVFVectorsFormat.MAX_VECTORS_PER_CLUSTER;
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.codec.vectors.IVFVectorsFormat.MIN_VECTORS_PER_CLUSTER;
 
@@ -255,9 +255,9 @@ public static class Builder extends FieldMapper.Builder {
         private final Parameter<Map<String, String>> meta = Parameter.metaParam();
 
         final IndexVersion indexVersionCreated;
-        final boolean isSyntheticVector;
+        final boolean isExcludeSourceVectors;
 
-        public Builder(String name, IndexVersion indexVersionCreated, boolean isSyntheticVector) {
+        public Builder(String name, IndexVersion indexVersionCreated, boolean isExcludeSourceVectors) {
             super(name);
             this.indexVersionCreated = indexVersionCreated;
             // This is defined as updatable because it can be updated once, from [null] to a valid dim size,
@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@ public Builder(String name, IndexVersion indexVersionCreated, boolean isSyntheti
                         }
                     }
                 });
-            this.isSyntheticVector = isSyntheticVector;
+            this.isExcludeSourceVectors = isExcludeSourceVectors;
             final boolean indexedByDefault = indexVersionCreated.onOrAfter(INDEXED_BY_DEFAULT_INDEX_VERSION);
             final boolean defaultInt8Hnsw = indexVersionCreated.onOrAfter(IndexVersions.DEFAULT_DENSE_VECTOR_TO_INT8_HNSW);
             final boolean defaultBBQ8Hnsw = indexVersionCreated.onOrAfter(IndexVersions.DEFAULT_DENSE_VECTOR_TO_BBQ_HNSW);
@@ -431,7 +431,7 @@ public DenseVectorFieldMapper build(MapperBuilderContext context) {
             // Validate again here because the dimensions or element type could have been set programmatically,
             // which affects index option validity
             validate();
-            boolean isSyntheticVectorFinal = (context.isSourceSynthetic() == false) && indexed.getValue() && isSyntheticVector;
+            boolean isExcludeSourceVectorsFinal = context.isSourceSynthetic() == false && indexed.getValue() && isExcludeSourceVectors;
             return new DenseVectorFieldMapper(
                 leafName(),
                 new DenseVectorFieldType(
@@ -448,7 +448,7 @@ public DenseVectorFieldMapper build(MapperBuilderContext context) {
                 builderParams(this, context),
                 indexOptions.getValue(),
                 indexVersionCreated,
-                isSyntheticVectorFinal
+                isExcludeSourceVectorsFinal
             );
         }
     }
@@ -2391,7 +2391,7 @@ public XContentBuilder toXContent(XContentBuilder builder, Params params) throws
         (n, c) -> new Builder(
             n,
             c.getIndexSettings().getIndexVersionCreated(),
-            INDEX_MAPPING_SOURCE_SYNTHETIC_VECTORS_SETTING.get(c.getIndexSettings().getSettings())
+            INDEX_MAPPING_EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_SETTING.get(c.getIndexSettings().getSettings())
         ),
         notInMultiFields(CONTENT_TYPE)
     );
@@ -2850,7 +2850,7 @@ public List<Object> fetchValues(Source source, int doc, List<Object> ignoredValu
 
     private final DenseVectorIndexOptions indexOptions;
     private final IndexVersion indexCreatedVersion;
-    private final boolean isSyntheticVector;
+    private final boolean isExcludeSourceVectors;
 
     private DenseVectorFieldMapper(
         String simpleName,
@@ -2858,12 +2858,12 @@ private DenseVectorFieldMapper(
         BuilderParams params,
         DenseVectorIndexOptions indexOptions,
         IndexVersion indexCreatedVersion,
-        boolean isSyntheticVector
+        boolean isExcludeSourceVectorsFinal
     ) {
         super(simpleName, mappedFieldType, params);
         this.indexOptions = indexOptions;
         this.indexCreatedVersion = indexCreatedVersion;
-        this.isSyntheticVector = isSyntheticVector;
+        this.isExcludeSourceVectors = isExcludeSourceVectorsFinal;
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -2985,7 +2985,7 @@ protected String contentType() {
 
     @Override
     public FieldMapper.Builder getMergeBuilder() {
-        return new Builder(leafName(), indexCreatedVersion, isSyntheticVector).init(this);
+        return new Builder(leafName(), indexCreatedVersion, isExcludeSourceVectors).init(this);
     }
 
     private static DenseVectorIndexOptions parseIndexOptions(String fieldName, Object propNode, IndexVersion indexVersion) {
@@ -3041,7 +3041,7 @@ public String toString() {
 
     @Override
     public SourceLoader.SyntheticVectorsLoader syntheticVectorsLoader() {
-        if (isSyntheticVector) {
+        if (isExcludeSourceVectors) {
             var syntheticField = new IndexedSyntheticFieldLoader(indexCreatedVersion, fieldType().similarity);
             return new SyntheticVectorsPatchFieldLoader(syntheticField, syntheticField::copyVectorAsList);
         }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/SparseVectorFieldMapper.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/SparseVectorFieldMapper.java
index a91c84405b295..ef76540525898 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/SparseVectorFieldMapper.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/SparseVectorFieldMapper.java
@@ -12,11 +12,8 @@
 import org.apache.lucene.document.FeatureField;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.IndexableField;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.LeafReader;
-import org.apache.lucene.index.LeafReaderContext;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.PostingsEnum;
-import org.apache.lucene.index.TermVectors;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.TermsEnum;
-import org.apache.lucene.search.DocIdSetIterator;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.MatchNoDocsQuery;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.Query;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.BytesRef;
@@ -42,8 +39,6 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.index.query.SearchExecutionContext;
 import org.elasticsearch.inference.WeightedToken;
 import org.elasticsearch.inference.WeightedTokensUtils;
-import org.elasticsearch.search.fetch.StoredFieldsSpec;
-import org.elasticsearch.search.lookup.Source;
 import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.ConstructingObjectParser;
 import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.DeprecationHandler;
 import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.NamedXContentRegistry;
@@ -62,7 +57,7 @@
 import java.util.Objects;
 import java.util.stream.Stream;
 
-import static org.elasticsearch.index.IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_SOURCE_SYNTHETIC_VECTORS_SETTING;
+import static org.elasticsearch.index.IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_SETTING;
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.query.AbstractQueryBuilder.DEFAULT_BOOST;
 import static org.elasticsearch.xcontent.ConstructingObjectParser.optionalConstructorArg;
 
@@ -94,8 +89,7 @@ private static SparseVectorFieldMapper toType(FieldMapper in) {
 
     public static class Builder extends FieldMapper.Builder {
         private final IndexVersion indexVersionCreated;
-
-        private final Parameter<Boolean> stored = Parameter.storeParam(m -> toType(m).fieldType().isStored(), false);
+        private final Parameter<Boolean> stored;
         private final Parameter<Map<String, String>> meta = Parameter.metaParam();
         private final Parameter<SparseVectorIndexOptions> indexOptions = new Parameter<>(
             SPARSE_VECTOR_INDEX_OPTIONS,
@@ -107,12 +101,13 @@ public static class Builder extends FieldMapper.Builder {
             Objects::toString
         ).acceptsNull().setSerializerCheck(this::indexOptionsSerializerCheck);
 
-        private boolean isSyntheticVector;
+        private final boolean isExcludeSourceVectors;
 
-        public Builder(String name, IndexVersion indexVersionCreated, boolean isSyntheticVector) {
+        public Builder(String name, IndexVersion indexVersionCreated, boolean isExcludeSourceVectors) {
             super(name);
+            this.stored = Parameter.boolParam("store", false, m -> toType(m).fieldType().isStored(), () -> isExcludeSourceVectors);
             this.indexVersionCreated = indexVersionCreated;
-            this.isSyntheticVector = isSyntheticVector;
+            this.isExcludeSourceVectors = isExcludeSourceVectors;
         }
 
         public Builder setStored(boolean value) {
@@ -132,19 +127,18 @@ public SparseVectorFieldMapper build(MapperBuilderContext context) {
                 builderIndexOptions = SparseVectorIndexOptions.getDefaultIndexOptions(indexVersionCreated);
             }
 
-            final boolean syntheticVectorFinal = context.isSourceSynthetic() == false && isSyntheticVector;
-            final boolean storedFinal = stored.getValue() || syntheticVectorFinal;
+            final boolean isExcludeSourceVectorsFinal = isExcludeSourceVectors && context.isSourceSynthetic() == false && stored.get();
             return new SparseVectorFieldMapper(
                 leafName(),
                 new SparseVectorFieldType(
                     indexVersionCreated,
                     context.buildFullName(leafName()),
-                    storedFinal,
+                    stored.get(),
                     meta.getValue(),
                     builderIndexOptions
                 ),
                 builderParams(this, context),
-                syntheticVectorFinal
+                isExcludeSourceVectorsFinal
             );
         }
 
@@ -206,7 +200,7 @@ private static SparseVectorIndexOptions parseIndexOptions(MappingParserContext c
         return new Builder(
             n,
             c.indexVersionCreated(),
-            INDEX_MAPPING_SOURCE_SYNTHETIC_VECTORS_SETTING.get(c.getIndexSettings().getSettings())
+            INDEX_MAPPING_EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_SETTING.get(c.getIndexSettings().getSettings())
         );
     }, notInMultiFields(CONTENT_TYPE));
 
@@ -251,9 +245,6 @@ public IndexFieldData.Builder fielddataBuilder(FieldDataContext fieldDataContext
 
         @Override
         public ValueFetcher valueFetcher(SearchExecutionContext context, String format) {
-            if (isStored()) {
-                return new SparseVectorValueFetcher(name());
-            }
             return SourceValueFetcher.identity(name(), context, format);
         }
 
@@ -313,16 +304,17 @@ private static String indexedValueForSearch(Object value) {
         }
     }
 
-    private final boolean isSyntheticVector;
+    private final boolean isExcludeSourceVectors;
 
     private SparseVectorFieldMapper(
         String simpleName,
         MappedFieldType mappedFieldType,
         BuilderParams builderParams,
-        boolean isSyntheticVector
+        boolean isExcludeSourceVectors
     ) {
         super(simpleName, mappedFieldType, builderParams);
-        this.isSyntheticVector = isSyntheticVector;
+        assert isExcludeSourceVectors == false || fieldType().isStored();
+        this.isExcludeSourceVectors = isExcludeSourceVectors;
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -335,7 +327,7 @@ protected SyntheticSourceSupport syntheticSourceSupport() {
 
     @Override
     public SourceLoader.SyntheticVectorsLoader syntheticVectorsLoader() {
-        if (isSyntheticVector) {
+        if (isExcludeSourceVectors) {
             var syntheticField = new SparseVectorSyntheticFieldLoader(fullPath(), leafName());
             return new SyntheticVectorsPatchFieldLoader(syntheticField, syntheticField::copyAsMap);
         }
@@ -349,7 +341,7 @@ public Map<String, NamedAnalyzer> indexAnalyzers() {
 
     @Override
     public FieldMapper.Builder getMergeBuilder() {
-        return new Builder(leafName(), this.fieldType().indexVersionCreated, this.isSyntheticVector).init(this);
+        return new Builder(leafName(), this.fieldType().indexVersionCreated, this.isExcludeSourceVectors).init(this);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -433,51 +425,6 @@ private static boolean indexVersionSupportsDefaultPruningConfig(IndexVersion ind
             || indexVersion.between(SPARSE_VECTOR_PRUNING_INDEX_OPTIONS_VERSION_8_X, IndexVersions.UPGRADE_TO_LUCENE_10_0_0));
     }
 
-    private static class SparseVectorValueFetcher implements ValueFetcher {
-        private final String fieldName;
-        private TermVectors termVectors;
-
-        private SparseVectorValueFetcher(String fieldName) {
-            this.fieldName = fieldName;
-        }
-
-        @Override
-        public void setNextReader(LeafReaderContext context) {
-            try {
-                termVectors = context.reader().termVectors();
-            } catch (IOException exc) {
-                throw new UncheckedIOException(exc);
-            }
-        }
-
-        @Override
-        public List<Object> fetchValues(Source source, int doc, List<Object> ignoredValues) throws IOException {
-            if (termVectors == null) {
-                return List.of();
-            }
-            var terms = termVectors.get(doc, fieldName);
-            if (terms == null) {
-                return List.of();
-            }
-
-            var termsEnum = terms.iterator();
-            PostingsEnum postingsScratch = null;
-            Map<String, Float> result = new LinkedHashMap<>();
-            while (termsEnum.next() != null) {
-                postingsScratch = termsEnum.postings(postingsScratch);
-                postingsScratch.nextDoc();
-                result.put(termsEnum.term().utf8ToString(), XFeatureField.decodeFeatureValue(postingsScratch.freq()));
-                assert postingsScratch.nextDoc() == DocIdSetIterator.NO_MORE_DOCS;
-            }
-            return List.of(result);
-        }
-
-        @Override
-        public StoredFieldsSpec storedFieldsSpec() {
-            return StoredFieldsSpec.NO_REQUIREMENTS;
-        }
-    }
-
     private static class SparseVectorSyntheticFieldLoader implements SourceLoader.SyntheticFieldLoader {
         private final String fullPath;
         private final String leafName;
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/Translog.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/Translog.java
index b1a203616b120..6e83a684cfa82 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/Translog.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/Translog.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.Writeable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.uid.Versions;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.BigArrays;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentHelper;
 import org.elasticsearch.core.IOUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.core.Nullable;
 import org.elasticsearch.core.Releasable;
@@ -35,6 +36,8 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.AbstractIndexShardComponent;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.IndexShardComponent;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.ShardId;
+import org.elasticsearch.search.lookup.Source;
+import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.XContentParserConfiguration;
 
 import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.io.EOFException;
@@ -1226,9 +1229,9 @@ public Type opType() {
         @Override
         public long estimateSize() {
             return (2 * id.length()) + source.length() + (routing != null ? 2 * routing.length() : 0) + (4 * Long.BYTES); // timestamp,
-                                                                                                                          // seq_no,
-                                                                                                                          // primary_term,
-                                                                                                                          // and version
+            // seq_no,
+            // primary_term,
+            // and version
         }
 
         public String id() {
@@ -1275,7 +1278,7 @@ public boolean equals(Object o) {
             }
 
             Index other = (Index) o;
-            return autoGeneratedIdTimestamp == other.autoGeneratedIdTimestamp && equalsWithoutAutoGeneratedTimestamp(this, other);
+            return autoGeneratedIdTimestamp == other.autoGeneratedIdTimestamp && equalsWithoutAutoGeneratedTimestamp(this, other, true);
         }
 
         @Override
@@ -1311,15 +1314,43 @@ public long getAutoGeneratedIdTimestamp() {
             return autoGeneratedIdTimestamp;
         }
 
-        public static boolean equalsWithoutAutoGeneratedTimestamp(Translog.Index o1, Translog.Index o2) {
-            return o1.version == o2.version
-                && o1.seqNo == o2.seqNo
-                && o1.primaryTerm == o2.primaryTerm
-                && o1.id.equals(o2.id)
-                && o1.source.equals(o2.source)
-                && Objects.equals(o1.routing, o2.routing);
-        }
+        public static boolean equalsWithoutAutoGeneratedTimestamp(Translog.Index o1, Translog.Index o2, boolean checkSourceBytes) {
+            if (o1.version != o2.version
+                || o1.seqNo != o2.seqNo
+                || o1.primaryTerm != o2.primaryTerm
+                || o1.id.equals(o2.id) == false
+                || Objects.equals(o1.routing, o2.routing) == false) {
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            if (checkSourceBytes) {
+                return o1.source.equals(o2.source);
+            }
 
+            var s1 = Source.fromBytes(o1.source);
+            var s2 = Source.fromBytes(o2.source);
+            try (
+                var actualParser = XContentHelper.createParserNotCompressed(
+                    XContentParserConfiguration.EMPTY,
+                    s1.internalSourceRef(),
+                    s1.sourceContentType()
+                )
+            ) {
+                var actualMap = actualParser.map();
+                try (
+                    var expectedParser = XContentHelper.createParserNotCompressed(
+                        XContentParserConfiguration.EMPTY,
+                        s2.internalSourceRef(),
+                        s2.sourceContentType()
+                    )
+                ) {
+                    var expectedMap = expectedParser.map();
+                    return expectedMap.equals(actualMap);
+                }
+            } catch (IOException exc) {
+                return false;
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     public static final class Delete extends Operation {
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/search/SearchCapabilities.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/search/SearchCapabilities.java
index 6b44b787d1dbf..82410a76a8c75 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/search/SearchCapabilities.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/search/SearchCapabilities.java
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.Set;
 
-import static org.elasticsearch.index.IndexSettings.SYNTHETIC_VECTORS;
-
 /**
  * A {@link Set} of "capabilities" supported by the {@link RestSearchAction}.
  */
@@ -55,10 +53,10 @@ private SearchCapabilities() {}
     private static final String EXCLUDE_VECTORS_PARAM = "exclude_vectors_param";
     private static final String DENSE_VECTOR_UPDATABLE_BBQ = "dense_vector_updatable_bbq";
     private static final String FIELD_EXISTS_QUERY_FOR_TEXT_FIELDS_NO_INDEX_OR_DV = "field_exists_query_for_text_fields_no_index_or_dv";
-    private static final String SYNTHETIC_VECTORS_SETTING = "synthetic_vectors_setting";
     private static final String UPDATE_FIELD_TO_BBQ_DISK = "update_field_to_bbq_disk";
     private static final String KNN_FILTER_ON_NESTED_FIELDS_CAPABILITY = "knn_filter_on_nested_fields";
     private static final String BUCKET_SCRIPT_PARENT_MULTI_BUCKET_ERROR = "bucket_script_parent_multi_bucket_error";
+    private static final String EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_SETTING = "exclude_source_vectors_setting";
 
     public static final Set<String> CAPABILITIES;
     static {
@@ -86,9 +84,7 @@ private SearchCapabilities() {}
         capabilities.add(UPDATE_FIELD_TO_BBQ_DISK);
         capabilities.add(KNN_FILTER_ON_NESTED_FIELDS_CAPABILITY);
         capabilities.add(BUCKET_SCRIPT_PARENT_MULTI_BUCKET_ERROR);
-        if (SYNTHETIC_VECTORS) {
-            capabilities.add(SYNTHETIC_VECTORS_SETTING);
-        }
+        capabilities.add(EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_SETTING);
         CAPABILITIES = Set.copyOf(capabilities);
     }
 }
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/DenseVectorFieldMapperTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/DenseVectorFieldMapperTests.java
index 09d1ad47a1083..ad5f5bdc1eedb 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/DenseVectorFieldMapperTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/DenseVectorFieldMapperTests.java
@@ -2479,22 +2479,7 @@ protected Object generateRandomInputValue(MappedFieldType ft) {
         DenseVectorFieldType vectorFieldType = (DenseVectorFieldType) ft;
         return switch (vectorFieldType.getElementType()) {
             case BYTE -> randomByteArrayOfLength(vectorFieldType.getVectorDimensions());
-            case FLOAT -> {
-                float[] floats = new float[vectorFieldType.getVectorDimensions()];
-                float magnitude = 0;
-                for (int i = 0; i < floats.length; i++) {
-                    float f = randomFloat();
-                    floats[i] = f;
-                    magnitude += f * f;
-                }
-                magnitude = (float) Math.sqrt(magnitude);
-                if (VectorSimilarity.DOT_PRODUCT.equals(vectorFieldType.getSimilarity())) {
-                    for (int i = 0; i < floats.length; i++) {
-                        floats[i] /= magnitude;
-                    }
-                }
-                yield floats;
-            }
+            case FLOAT -> randomNormalizedVector(vectorFieldType.getVectorDimensions());
             case BIT -> randomByteArrayOfLength(vectorFieldType.getVectorDimensions() / 8);
         };
     }
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/SparseVectorFieldMapperTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/SparseVectorFieldMapperTests.java
index 3d8eb1b454a56..45fe7a16048a6 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/SparseVectorFieldMapperTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/SparseVectorFieldMapperTests.java
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ protected void minimalFieldMappingPreviousIndexDefaultsIncluded(XContentBuilder
 
     protected void minimalMappingWithExplicitDefaults(XContentBuilder b) throws IOException {
         b.field("type", "sparse_vector");
-        b.field("store", false);
+        b.field("store", true);
 
         b.startObject("meta");
         b.endObject();
@@ -421,7 +421,7 @@ public void testStoreIsNotUpdateable() throws IOException {
             .startObject("properties")
             .startObject("field")
             .field("type", "sparse_vector")
-            .field("store", true)
+            .field("store", false)
             .endObject()
             .endObject()
             .endObject()
@@ -474,23 +474,16 @@ protected boolean allowsNullValues() {
 
     @Override
     protected SyntheticSourceSupport syntheticSourceSupport(boolean syntheticSource) {
-        boolean withStore = randomBoolean();
         return new SyntheticSourceSupport() {
             @Override
             public boolean preservesExactSource() {
-                return withStore == false;
+                return false;
             }
 
             @Override
             public SyntheticSourceExample example(int maxValues) {
                 var sample = getSampleValueForDocument();
-                return new SyntheticSourceExample(sample, sample, b -> {
-                    if (withStore) {
-                        minimalStoreMapping(b);
-                    } else {
-                        minimalMapping(b);
-                    }
-                });
+                return new SyntheticSourceExample(sample, sample, b -> { minimalMapping(b); });
             }
 
             @Override
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/SyntheticVectorFieldsRecoveryTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/SyntheticVectorFieldsRecoveryTests.java
index 138d138b741e5..3718dae1c7d3e 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/SyntheticVectorFieldsRecoveryTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/SyntheticVectorFieldsRecoveryTests.java
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 
-import static org.elasticsearch.index.IndexSettings.SYNTHETIC_VECTORS;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
 
 public class SyntheticVectorFieldsRecoveryTests extends EngineTestCase {
@@ -69,7 +68,7 @@ protected Settings indexSettings() {
             builder.put(IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPER_SOURCE_MODE_SETTING.getKey(), SourceFieldMapper.Mode.SYNTHETIC.name());
             builder.put(IndexSettings.RECOVERY_USE_SYNTHETIC_SOURCE_SETTING.getKey(), useSyntheticRecovery);
         }
-        builder.put(IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_SOURCE_SYNTHETIC_VECTORS_SETTING.getKey(), true);
+        builder.put(IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_SETTING.getKey(), true);
         return builder.build();
     }
 
@@ -113,7 +112,6 @@ protected String defaultMapping() {
     }
 
     public void testSnapshotRecovery() throws IOException {
-        assumeTrue("feature flag must be enabled for synthetic vectors", SYNTHETIC_VECTORS);
         List<Translog.Index> expectedOperations = new ArrayList<>();
         int size = randomIntBetween(10, 50);
         for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/SyntheticVectorsMapperTestCase.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/SyntheticVectorsMapperTestCase.java
index ebb4fe788fea3..f7a23383f4e92 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/SyntheticVectorsMapperTestCase.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/SyntheticVectorsMapperTestCase.java
@@ -26,12 +26,10 @@
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 
-import static org.elasticsearch.index.IndexSettings.SYNTHETIC_VECTORS;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertToXContentEquivalent;
 
 public abstract class SyntheticVectorsMapperTestCase extends MapperTestCase {
     public void testSyntheticVectorsMinimalValidDocument() throws IOException {
-        assumeTrue("feature flag must be enabled for synthetic vectors", SYNTHETIC_VECTORS);
         for (XContentType type : XContentType.values()) {
             BytesReference source = generateRandomDoc(type, true, true, false, false, false);
             assertSyntheticVectors(buildVectorMapping(), source, type);
@@ -39,7 +37,6 @@ public void testSyntheticVectorsMinimalValidDocument() throws IOException {
     }
 
     public void testSyntheticVectorsFullDocument() throws IOException {
-        assumeTrue("feature flag must be enabled for synthetic vectors", SYNTHETIC_VECTORS);
         for (XContentType type : XContentType.values()) {
             BytesReference source = generateRandomDoc(type, true, true, true, true, false);
             assertSyntheticVectors(buildVectorMapping(), source, type);
@@ -47,7 +44,6 @@ public void testSyntheticVectorsFullDocument() throws IOException {
     }
 
     public void testSyntheticVectorsWithUnmappedFields() throws IOException {
-        assumeTrue("feature flag must be enabled for synthetic vectors", SYNTHETIC_VECTORS);
         for (XContentType type : XContentType.values()) {
             BytesReference source = generateRandomDoc(type, true, true, true, true, true);
             assertSyntheticVectors(buildVectorMapping(), source, type);
@@ -55,7 +51,6 @@ public void testSyntheticVectorsWithUnmappedFields() throws IOException {
     }
 
     public void testSyntheticVectorsMissingRootFields() throws IOException {
-        assumeTrue("feature flag must be enabled for synthetic vectors", SYNTHETIC_VECTORS);
         for (XContentType type : XContentType.values()) {
             BytesReference source = generateRandomDoc(type, false, false, false, false, false);
             assertSyntheticVectors(buildVectorMapping(), source, type);
@@ -63,7 +58,6 @@ public void testSyntheticVectorsMissingRootFields() throws IOException {
     }
 
     public void testSyntheticVectorsPartialNestedContent() throws IOException {
-        assumeTrue("feature flag must be enabled for synthetic vectors", SYNTHETIC_VECTORS);
         for (XContentType type : XContentType.values()) {
             BytesReference source = generateRandomDoc(type, true, true, true, false, false);
             assertSyntheticVectors(buildVectorMapping(), source, type);
@@ -71,7 +65,6 @@ public void testSyntheticVectorsPartialNestedContent() throws IOException {
     }
 
     public void testFlatPathDocument() throws IOException {
-        assumeTrue("feature flag must be enabled for synthetic vectors", SYNTHETIC_VECTORS);
         for (XContentType type : XContentType.values()) {
             BytesReference source = generateRandomDocWithFlatPath(type);
             assertSyntheticVectors(buildVectorMapping(), source, type);
@@ -248,7 +241,7 @@ private BytesReference generateRandomDocWithFlatPath(XContentType xContentType)
     }
 
     private void assertSyntheticVectors(String mapping, BytesReference source, XContentType xContentType) throws IOException {
-        var settings = Settings.builder().put(IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_SOURCE_SYNTHETIC_VECTORS_SETTING.getKey(), true).build();
+        var settings = Settings.builder().put(IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_SETTING.getKey(), true).build();
         MapperService mapperService = createMapperService(settings, mapping);
         var parsedDoc = mapperService.documentMapper().parse(new SourceToParse("0", source, xContentType));
         try (var directory = newDirectory()) {
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/ShardGetServiceTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/ShardGetServiceTests.java
index 41f70541dbf1b..385f333f0b020 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/ShardGetServiceTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/ShardGetServiceTests.java
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.function.LongSupplier;
 
-import static org.elasticsearch.index.IndexSettings.SYNTHETIC_VECTORS;
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.seqno.SequenceNumbers.UNASSIGNED_PRIMARY_TERM;
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.seqno.SequenceNumbers.UNASSIGNED_SEQ_NO;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
@@ -138,11 +137,19 @@ public void testGetFromTranslogWithDenseVector() throws IOException {
                 "foo": "foo"
             }
             """, Arrays.toString(vector));
-        runGetFromTranslogWithOptions(docToIndex, "\"enabled\": true", null, docToIndex, "\"text\"", "foo", "\"dense_vector\"", false);
+        runGetFromTranslogWithOptions(
+            docToIndex,
+            "\"enabled\": true",
+            Settings.builder().put(IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_SETTING.getKey(), false).build(),
+            docToIndex,
+            "\"text\"",
+            "foo",
+            "\"dense_vector\"",
+            false
+        );
     }
 
     public void testGetFromTranslogWithSyntheticVector() throws IOException {
-        assumeTrue("feature flag must be enabled for synthetic vectors", SYNTHETIC_VECTORS);
         float[] vector = new float[2048];
         for (int i = 0; i < vector.length; i++) {
             vector[i] = randomByte();
@@ -156,7 +163,7 @@ public void testGetFromTranslogWithSyntheticVector() throws IOException {
         runGetFromTranslogWithOptions(
             docToIndex,
             "\"enabled\": true",
-            Settings.builder().put(IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_SOURCE_SYNTHETIC_VECTORS_SETTING.getKey(), true).build(),
+            Settings.builder().put(IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_SETTING.getKey(), true).build(),
             docToIndex,
             "\"text\"",
             "foo",
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/build.gradle b/x-pack/plugin/build.gradle
index 7057fc41d834c..1e89582ba87e9 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/build.gradle
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/build.gradle
@@ -139,6 +139,8 @@ tasks.named("yamlRestCompatTestTransform").configure({ task ->
   task.skipTest("esql/192_lookup_join_on_aliases/alias-pattern-multiple", "Error message changed")
   task.skipTest("esql/192_lookup_join_on_aliases/fails when alias or pattern resolves to multiple", "Error message changed")
   task.skipTest("esql/10_basic/Test wrong LIMIT parameter", "Error message changed")
+  task.skipTest("ml/sparse_vector_search/Search on a sparse_vector field with dots in the field names", "Vectors are no longer returned by default")
+  task.skipTest("ml/sparse_vector_search/Search on a nested sparse_vector field with dots in the field names and conflicting child fields", "Vectors are no longer returned by default")
   task.skipTest("esql/190_lookup_join/lookup-no-key-only-key", "Requires the fix")
 })
 
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/qa/ml-with-security/build.gradle b/x-pack/plugin/ml/qa/ml-with-security/build.gradle
index d18f6da13cad2..97407b882651b 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/qa/ml-with-security/build.gradle
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/qa/ml-with-security/build.gradle
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ dependencies {
 // bring in machine learning rest test suite
 restResources {
   restApi {
-    include '_common', 'cluster', 'nodes', 'indices', 'index', 'search', 'get', 'count', 'ingest', 'bulk', 'ml', 'cat'
+    include '_common', 'capabilities', 'cluster', 'nodes', 'indices', 'index', 'search', 'get', 'count', 'ingest', 'bulk', 'ml', 'cat'
   }
   restTests {
     includeXpack 'ml'
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/qa/native-multi-node-tests/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/TextEmbeddingQueryIT.java b/x-pack/plugin/ml/qa/native-multi-node-tests/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/TextEmbeddingQueryIT.java
index 620819a8898dd..e21fc7f9be1ab 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/qa/native-multi-node-tests/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/TextEmbeddingQueryIT.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/qa/native-multi-node-tests/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/TextEmbeddingQueryIT.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.closeTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasSize;
 
 /**
@@ -100,6 +101,9 @@ public class TextEmbeddingQueryIT extends PyTorchModelRestTestCase {
 
     private static final String TOP_LEVEL_KNN_TEMPLATE = """
         {
+          "_source": {
+            "exclude_vectors": false
+          },
           "knn": {
               "field": "%s",
               "k": 5,
@@ -114,6 +118,9 @@ public class TextEmbeddingQueryIT extends PyTorchModelRestTestCase {
         }""";
     private static final String TOP_LEVEL_KNN_FILTER_TEMPLATE = """
         {
+          "_source": {
+            "exclude_vectors": false
+          },
           "knn": {
               "field": "%s",
               "k": 5,
@@ -129,6 +136,9 @@ public class TextEmbeddingQueryIT extends PyTorchModelRestTestCase {
         }""";
     private static final String TOP_LEVEL_KNN_HYBRID_ALL = """
         {
+          "_source": {
+            "exclude_vectors": false
+          },
           "knn": {
               "field": "embedding",
               "k": 3,
@@ -146,6 +156,9 @@ public class TextEmbeddingQueryIT extends PyTorchModelRestTestCase {
         }""";
     private static final String TOP_LEVEL_KNN_HYBRID_MATCH = """
         {
+          "_source": {
+            "exclude_vectors": false
+          },
           "knn": {
               "field": "embedding",
               "k": 3,
@@ -163,6 +176,9 @@ public class TextEmbeddingQueryIT extends PyTorchModelRestTestCase {
 
     private static final String QUERY_DSL_KNN_TEMPLATE = """
         {
+          "_source": {
+            "exclude_vectors": false
+          },
           "query": {
               "knn" : {
                   "field": "%s",
@@ -178,6 +194,9 @@ public class TextEmbeddingQueryIT extends PyTorchModelRestTestCase {
         }""";
     private static final String QUERY_DSL_KNN_FILTER_TEMPLATE = """
         {
+          "_source": {
+            "exclude_vectors": false
+          },
           "query": {
               "knn" : {
                   "field": "%s",
@@ -194,6 +213,9 @@ public class TextEmbeddingQueryIT extends PyTorchModelRestTestCase {
         }""";
     private static final String QUERY_DSL_KNN_HYBRID_ALL = """
         {
+             "_source": {
+                "exclude_vectors": false
+             },
              "query": {
                  "bool": {
                      "should": [
@@ -220,6 +242,9 @@ public class TextEmbeddingQueryIT extends PyTorchModelRestTestCase {
          }""";
     private static final String QUERY_DSL_KNN_HYBRID_MATCH = """
         {
+             "_source": {
+                "exclude_vectors": false
+             },
              "query": {
                  "bool": {
                      "should": [
@@ -554,7 +579,11 @@ public void testModelWithPrefixStrings() throws IOException {
             // The top hit should have the search prefix
             assertEquals(searchPrefix + "my words", sourceText);
             List<Double> foundEmbedding = (List<Double>) MapHelper.dig("_source.embedding", topHit);
-            assertEquals(embeddings.get(0), foundEmbedding);
+            var expectedEmbeddings = embeddings.get(0);
+            assertThat(foundEmbedding.size(), equalTo(expectedEmbeddings.size()));
+            for (int i = 0; i < foundEmbedding.size(); i++) {
+                assertEquals(expectedEmbeddings.get(i), foundEmbedding.get(i), 0.01f);
+            }
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/qa/native-multi-node-tests/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/TextExpansionQueryIT.java b/x-pack/plugin/ml/qa/native-multi-node-tests/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/TextExpansionQueryIT.java
index f1e8c9a67df44..58108b2c70b38 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/qa/native-multi-node-tests/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/TextExpansionQueryIT.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/qa/native-multi-node-tests/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/TextExpansionQueryIT.java
@@ -276,6 +276,9 @@ protected Response textExpansionSearch(String index, String modelText, String mo
 
         request.setJsonEntity(Strings.format("""
             {
+                "_source": {
+                    "exclude_vectors": false
+                },
                 "query": {
                   "text_expansion": {
                     "%s": {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/rank-rrf/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/rrf/700_rrf_retriever_search_api_compatibility.yml b/x-pack/plugin/rank-rrf/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/rrf/700_rrf_retriever_search_api_compatibility.yml
index 01d645fbfb4f5..89d4cb74a6210 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/rank-rrf/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/rrf/700_rrf_retriever_search_api_compatibility.yml
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/rank-rrf/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/rrf/700_rrf_retriever_search_api_compatibility.yml
@@ -980,19 +980,25 @@ setup:
 
 ---
 "rrf retriever with inner_hits for sub-retriever":
+  - skip:
+      features: [ "headers" ]
   - requires:
       capabilities:
         - method: POST
           path: /_search
-          capabilities: [ nested_retriever_inner_hits_support ]
+          capabilities: [ nested_retriever_inner_hits_support, exclude_source_vectors_setting ]
       test_runner_features: capabilities
       reason: "Support for propagating nested retrievers' inner hits to the top-level compound retriever is required"
 
   - do:
+      headers:
+        # Force JSON content type so that we use a parser that interprets the floating-point score as a double
+        Content-Type: application/json
       search:
-        _source: false
         index: test
         body:
+          _source:
+            exclude_vectors: false
           retriever:
             rrf:
               retrievers: [
@@ -1058,7 +1064,7 @@ setup:
   - match: { hits.hits.0.inner_hits.nested_data_field.hits.total.value: 1 }
   - match: { hits.hits.0.inner_hits.nested_data_field.hits.hits.0.fields.nested_inner_hits.0.data.0: foo }
   - match: { hits.hits.0.inner_hits.nested_vector_field.hits.total.value: 1 }
-  - match: { hits.hits.0.inner_hits.nested_vector_field.hits.hits.0.fields.nested_inner_hits.0.paragraph_id: [ 1 ] }
+  - match: { hits.hits.0.inner_hits.nested_vector_field.hits.hits.0.fields.nested_inner_hits.0.paragraph_id: [ 1.0 ] }
 
   - match: { hits.hits.1.inner_hits.nested_data_field.hits.total.value: 3 }
   - match: { hits.hits.1.inner_hits.nested_data_field.hits.hits.0.fields.nested_inner_hits.0.data.0: bar }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/rank-vectors/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/rank/vectors/RankVectorsPlugin.java b/x-pack/plugin/rank-vectors/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/rank/vectors/RankVectorsPlugin.java
index dd38367125692..cf302a4bebe86 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/rank-vectors/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/rank/vectors/RankVectorsPlugin.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/rank-vectors/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/rank/vectors/RankVectorsPlugin.java
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 
 import java.util.Map;
 
-import static org.elasticsearch.index.IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_SOURCE_SYNTHETIC_VECTORS_SETTING;
+import static org.elasticsearch.index.IndexSettings.INDEX_MAPPING_EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_SETTING;
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.FieldMapper.notInMultiFields;
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.rank.vectors.mapper.RankVectorsFieldMapper.CONTENT_TYPE;
 
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ public Map<String, Mapper.TypeParser> getMappers() {
                 n,
                 c.indexVersionCreated(),
                 getLicenseState(),
-                INDEX_MAPPING_SOURCE_SYNTHETIC_VECTORS_SETTING.get(c.getIndexSettings().getSettings())
+                INDEX_MAPPING_EXCLUDE_SOURCE_VECTORS_SETTING.get(c.getIndexSettings().getSettings())
             );
         }, notInMultiFields(CONTENT_TYPE)));
     }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/rank-vectors/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/rank/vectors/mapper/RankVectorsFieldMapper.java b/x-pack/plugin/rank-vectors/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/rank/vectors/mapper/RankVectorsFieldMapper.java
index a79fb4f304f6a..e2f314abc553f 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/rank-vectors/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/rank/vectors/mapper/RankVectorsFieldMapper.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/rank-vectors/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/rank/vectors/mapper/RankVectorsFieldMapper.java
@@ -113,13 +113,13 @@ public static class Builder extends FieldMapper.Builder {
 
         private final IndexVersion indexCreatedVersion;
         private final XPackLicenseState licenseState;
-        private final boolean isSyntheticVector;
+        private final boolean isExcludeSourceVectors;
 
-        public Builder(String name, IndexVersion indexCreatedVersion, XPackLicenseState licenseState, boolean isSyntheticVector) {
+        public Builder(String name, IndexVersion indexCreatedVersion, XPackLicenseState licenseState, boolean isExcludeSourceVectors) {
             super(name);
             this.indexCreatedVersion = indexCreatedVersion;
             this.licenseState = licenseState;
-            this.isSyntheticVector = isSyntheticVector;
+            this.isExcludeSourceVectors = isExcludeSourceVectors;
         }
 
         public Builder dimensions(int dimensions) {
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ public RankVectorsFieldMapper build(MapperBuilderContext context) {
             // Validate again here because the dimensions or element type could have been set programmatically,
             // which affects index option validity
             validate();
-            boolean isSyntheticVectorFinal = context.isSourceSynthetic() == false && isSyntheticVector;
+            boolean isExcludeSourceVectorsFinal = context.isSourceSynthetic() == false && isExcludeSourceVectors;
             return new RankVectorsFieldMapper(
                 leafName(),
                 new RankVectorsFieldType(
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ public RankVectorsFieldMapper build(MapperBuilderContext context) {
                 builderParams(this, context),
                 indexCreatedVersion,
                 licenseState,
-                isSyntheticVectorFinal
+                isExcludeSourceVectorsFinal
             );
         }
     }
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ DenseVectorFieldMapper.ElementType getElementType() {
 
     private final IndexVersion indexCreatedVersion;
     private final XPackLicenseState licenseState;
-    private final boolean isSyntheticVector;
+    private final boolean isExcludeSourceVectors;
 
     private RankVectorsFieldMapper(
         String simpleName,
@@ -260,12 +260,12 @@ private RankVectorsFieldMapper(
         BuilderParams params,
         IndexVersion indexCreatedVersion,
         XPackLicenseState licenseState,
-        boolean isSyntheticVector
+        boolean isExcludeSourceVectors
     ) {
         super(simpleName, fieldType, params);
         this.indexCreatedVersion = indexCreatedVersion;
         this.licenseState = licenseState;
-        this.isSyntheticVector = isSyntheticVector;
+        this.isExcludeSourceVectors = isExcludeSourceVectors;
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -396,7 +396,7 @@ protected String contentType() {
 
     @Override
     public FieldMapper.Builder getMergeBuilder() {
-        return new Builder(leafName(), indexCreatedVersion, licenseState, isSyntheticVector).init(this);
+        return new Builder(leafName(), indexCreatedVersion, licenseState, isExcludeSourceVectors).init(this);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -406,7 +406,7 @@ protected SyntheticSourceSupport syntheticSourceSupport() {
 
     @Override
     public SourceLoader.SyntheticVectorsLoader syntheticVectorsLoader() {
-        if (isSyntheticVector) {
+        if (isExcludeSourceVectors) {
             var syntheticField = new DocValuesSyntheticFieldLoader();
             return new SyntheticVectorsPatchFieldLoader(syntheticField, syntheticField::copyVectorsAsList);
         }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/ml/sparse_vector_search.yml b/x-pack/plugin/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/ml/sparse_vector_search.yml
index 408ddd1ec50c6..83f62f4382431 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/ml/sparse_vector_search.yml
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/ml/sparse_vector_search.yml
@@ -372,6 +372,11 @@ teardown:
   - requires:
       cluster_features: [ "gte_v8.16.0" ]
       reason: dots in field names allowed starting in in 8.16.0
+      test_runner_features: [ capabilities, "close_to" ]
+      capabilities:
+        - method: GET
+          path: /_search
+          capabilities: [ exclude_source_vectors_setting ]
 
   - do:
       indices.create:
@@ -409,17 +414,14 @@ teardown:
       get:
         index: index-with-sparse-vector2
         id: "has-dots"
+        _source_exclude_vectors: false
 
-  - match:
-      _source:
-        ml:
-          tokens:
-            running: 2.4097164
-            good: 2.170997
-            run: 2.052153
-            race: 1.4575411
-            for: 1.1908325
-            5.0k: 2.489943
+  - close_to: { _source.ml.tokens.running: { value: 2.4097164, error: 0.01 } }
+  - close_to: { _source.ml.tokens.good: { value: 2.170997, error: 0.01 } }
+  - close_to: { _source.ml.tokens.run: { value: 2.052153, error: 0.01 } }
+  - close_to: { _source.ml.tokens.race: { value: 1.4575411, error: 0.01 } }
+  - close_to: { _source.ml.tokens.for: { value: 1.1908325, error: 0.01 } }
+  - close_to: { _source.ml.tokens.5\\.0k: { value: 2.489943, error: 0.01 } }
 
   - do:
       search:
@@ -439,6 +441,11 @@ teardown:
   - requires:
       cluster_features: [ "gte_v8.16.0" ]
       reason: dots in field names allowed starting in in 8.16.0
+      test_runner_features: [ capabilities, "close_to" ]
+      capabilities:
+        - method: GET
+          path: /_search
+          capabilities: [ exclude_source_vectors_setting ]
 
   - do:
       indices.create:
@@ -479,6 +486,7 @@ teardown:
       get:
         index: index-with-sparse-vector3
         id: "parent-foo"
+        _source_exclude_vectors: false
 
   - match:
       _source:
@@ -491,6 +499,7 @@ teardown:
       get:
         index: index-with-sparse-vector3
         id: "parent-foo-bar"
+        _source_exclude_vectors: false
 
   - match:
       _source:
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/rank_vectors/rank_vectors_synthetic_vectors.yml b/x-pack/plugin/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/rank_vectors/rank_vectors_synthetic_vectors.yml
index c0df9d6a79d38..b39325d5147a8 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/rank_vectors/rank_vectors_synthetic_vectors.yml
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/rank_vectors/rank_vectors_synthetic_vectors.yml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ setup:
       capabilities:
         - method: GET
           path: /_search
-          capabilities: [ synthetic_vectors_setting ]
+          capabilities: [ exclude_source_vectors_setting ]
   - skip:
       features: "headers"
 
@@ -14,8 +14,6 @@ setup:
       indices.create:
         index: test
         body:
-          settings:
-            index.mapping.synthetic_vectors: true
           mappings:
             properties:
               name: