diff --git a/cdisc_rules_engine/exceptions/__init__.py b/cdisc_rules_engine/exceptions/__init__.py
index e69de29bb..509279a2f 100644
--- a/cdisc_rules_engine/exceptions/__init__.py
+++ b/cdisc_rules_engine/exceptions/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+from .custom_exceptions import (
+    EngineError,
+    DatasetNotFoundError,
+    ReferentialIntegrityError,
+    MissingDataError,
+    RuleExecutionError,
+    RuleFormatError,
+    InvalidMatchKeyError,
+    VariableMetadataNotFoundError,
+    DomainNotFoundError,
+    DomainNotFoundInDefineXMLError,
+    InvalidDatasetFormat,
+    InvalidJSONFormat,
+    NumberOfAttemptsExceeded,
+    InvalidDictionaryVariable,
+    UnsupportedDictionaryType,
+    FailedSchemaValidation,
+    SchemaNotFoundError,
+    InvalidSchemaProvidedError,
+    PreprocessingError,
+    OperationError,
+    DatasetBuilderError,
+    DateTimeParserError,
+    UnsupportedXptFormatError,
+)
+
+__all__ = [
+    "EngineError",
+    "DatasetNotFoundError",
+    "ReferentialIntegrityError",
+    "MissingDataError",
+    "RuleExecutionError",
+    "RuleFormatError",
+    "InvalidMatchKeyError",
+    "VariableMetadataNotFoundError",
+    "DomainNotFoundError",
+    "DomainNotFoundInDefineXMLError",
+    "InvalidDatasetFormat",
+    "InvalidJSONFormat",
+    "NumberOfAttemptsExceeded",
+    "InvalidDictionaryVariable",
+    "UnsupportedDictionaryType",
+    "FailedSchemaValidation",
+    "SchemaNotFoundError",
+    "InvalidSchemaProvidedError",
+    "PreprocessingError",
+    "OperationError",
+    "DatasetBuilderError",
+    "DateTimeParserError",
+    "UnsupportedXptFormatError",
+]
diff --git a/cdisc_rules_engine/exceptions/custom_exceptions.py b/cdisc_rules_engine/exceptions/custom_exceptions.py
index 669cb719c..94436108a 100644
--- a/cdisc_rules_engine/exceptions/custom_exceptions.py
+++ b/cdisc_rules_engine/exceptions/custom_exceptions.py
@@ -125,3 +125,10 @@ class DatasetBuilderError(EngineError):
 class DateTimeParserError(EngineError):
     code = 400
     description = "Failure to parse a datetime string"
+
+
+class UnsupportedXptFormatError(EngineError):
+    code = 400
+    description = (
+        "Unsupported XPT (SAS Transport) format. Only Transport v5 is supported."
+    )
diff --git a/cdisc_rules_engine/services/data_readers/xpt_reader.py b/cdisc_rules_engine/services/data_readers/xpt_reader.py
index 11ec4d936..d20e1e85d 100644
--- a/cdisc_rules_engine/services/data_readers/xpt_reader.py
+++ b/cdisc_rules_engine/services/data_readers/xpt_reader.py
@@ -7,22 +7,33 @@
 from cdisc_rules_engine.interfaces import (
     DataReaderInterface,
 )
+from cdisc_rules_engine.exceptions import UnsupportedXptFormatError
 
 
 class XPTReader(DataReaderInterface):
+    def _read_sas(self, source, **kwargs):
+        try:
+            return pd.read_sas(source, encoding=self.encoding, **kwargs)
+        except ValueError as exc:
+            message = str(exc)
+            if "Header record is not an XPORT file" in message:
+                raise UnsupportedXptFormatError(
+                    "Unsupported XPT (SAS Transport) format. Only Transport v5 is supported."
+                ) from exc
+            raise
 
     def read(self, data):
-        df = pd.read_sas(BytesIO(data), format="xport", encoding=self.encoding)
+        df = self._read_sas(BytesIO(data), format="xport")
         df = self._format_floats(df)
         return df
 
     def _read_pandas(self, file_path):
-        data = pd.read_sas(file_path, format="xport", encoding=self.encoding)
+        data = self._read_sas(file_path, format="xport")
         return PandasDataset(self._format_floats(data))
 
-    def to_parquet(self, file_path: str) -> str:
+    def to_parquet(self, file_path: str) -> tuple[int, str]:
         temp_file = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(delete=False, suffix=".parquet")
-        dataset = pd.read_sas(file_path, chunksize=20000, encoding=self.encoding)
+        dataset = self._read_sas(file_path, chunksize=20000)
         created = False
         num_rows = 0
         for chunk in dataset:
diff --git a/tests/resources/test_dataset_sas_v8.xpt b/tests/resources/test_dataset_sas_v8.xpt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4015cd44c
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/resources/test_dataset_sas_v8.xpt differ
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_xpt_reader.py b/tests/unit/test_xpt_reader.py
index 6a3af07ea..843dda4f2 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_xpt_reader.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_xpt_reader.py
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 import os
 
+import pytest
+
 from cdisc_rules_engine.services.data_readers.xpt_reader import XPTReader
+from cdisc_rules_engine.exceptions import UnsupportedXptFormatError
 
 
 def test_read():
@@ -17,3 +20,34 @@ def test_read():
         Verify that the rounding of incredibly small values to 0 is applied.
         """
         assert value == 0 or abs(value) > 10**-16
+
+
+def test_read_xpt_v5_no_error():
+    """Verify that an XPT v5 file can be read without errors."""
+    test_dataset_path: str = os.path.join(
+        os.path.dirname(__file__), "..", "resources", "test_dataset.xpt"
+    )
+    with open(test_dataset_path, "rb") as f:
+        data = f.read()
+
+    reader = XPTReader()
+    df = reader.read(data)
+    assert not df.empty
+
+
+def test_read_xpt_v8_unsupported_error():
+    """Verify that XPT v8 format raises UnsupportedXptFormatError."""
+    test_dataset_path: str = os.path.join(
+        os.path.dirname(__file__), "..", "resources", "test_dataset_sas_v8.xpt"
+    )
+    with open(test_dataset_path, "rb") as f:
+        data = f.read()
+
+    reader = XPTReader()
+    expected_msg = (
+        "Unsupported XPT (SAS Transport) format. Only Transport v5 is supported."
+    )
+    with pytest.raises(UnsupportedXptFormatError) as exc_info:
+        reader.read(data)
+
+    assert expected_msg in str(exc_info.value)