diff --git a/internal/adapter/publish/sign.go b/internal/adapter/publish/sign.go
index 6d399043..33a2f4f9 100644
--- a/internal/adapter/publish/sign.go
+++ b/internal/adapter/publish/sign.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/opencontainers/go-digest"
 	ocispec "github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/specs-go/v1"
@@ -33,6 +34,13 @@ const DefaultFulcioURL = "https://fulcio.sigstore.dev"
 // (see internal/adapter/signing.recordFromManifest).
 const cosignSignatureAnnotation = "dev.cosignproject.cosign/signature"
 
+// cosignSignatureArtifactType is the OCI manifest ArtifactType cosign filters on
+// when discovering signatures via OCI 1.1 referrers. It matches the value
+// github.com/sigstore/cosign/v3/pkg/oci/remote tests expect for a signature
+// referrer (wantArtifactType in write_test.go). Cosign does not export the
+// constant, so we keep a local mirror with its source noted.
+const cosignSignatureArtifactType = "application/vnd.dev.cosign.artifact.sig.v1+json"
+
 // SignResult is the output of a Signer: the raw signature over the
 // simple-signing payload plus, for keyless mode, the Fulcio leaf certificate and
 // a Sigstore bundle (cert + transparency-log inclusion proof + signed entry
@@ -254,7 +262,8 @@ func buildSignatureManifest(artifactDesc *ocispec.Descriptor, payload []byte, re
 	}
 
 	sigManifest := ocispec.Manifest{
-		MediaType: ocispec.MediaTypeImageManifest,
+		MediaType:    ocispec.MediaTypeImageManifest,
+		ArtifactType: cosignSignatureArtifactType,
 		// An OCI image manifest requires a valid config descriptor. Without one
 		// the zero value marshals as {"mediaType":"","digest":"","size":0},
 		// which strict registries (notably GHCR) reject with a 500 on push. Use
@@ -276,11 +285,22 @@ func buildSignatureManifest(artifactDesc *ocispec.Descriptor, payload []byte, re
 	return manifestJSON, payload
 }
 
+// tagPusher is a store that can both push manifests and tag them by reference.
+// remote.Repository and oras memory/oci stores implement this.
+type tagPusher interface {
+	content.Pusher
+	Tag(ctx context.Context, desc ocispec.Descriptor, reference string) error
+}
+
 // signArtifact signs artifactDesc with signer and pushes the cosign signature
 // manifest (a referrer) plus its payload blob into pusher. For a remote
 // repository the registry records the referrer against the artifact; for an
 // in-memory/on-disk store the manifest is staged for later copy. Returns the
 // signature manifest descriptor.
+//
+// To stay discoverable by default (non-experimental) cosign, the signature
+// manifest is also tagged as sha256-<algorithm>-<hex>.sig, the legacy tag
+// cosign's non-OCI-1.1 path resolves.
 func signArtifact(ctx context.Context, pusher content.Pusher, ref oci.Reference, artifactDesc *ocispec.Descriptor, signer Signer) (ocispec.Descriptor, error) {
 	payload := simpleSigningPayload(ref, artifactDesc.Digest)
 	res, err := signer.Sign(payload)
@@ -315,5 +335,24 @@ func signArtifact(ctx context.Context, pusher content.Pusher, ref oci.Reference,
 	if err := pusher.Push(ctx, sigDesc, bytes.NewReader(manifestJSON)); err != nil {
 		return ocispec.Descriptor{}, fmt.Errorf("publish: push signature manifest: %w", err)
 	}
+
+	// Also publish the legacy cosign signature tag so default (non-OCI-1.1)
+	// cosign verification can find the signature. The tag is content-addressed
+	// from the artifact digest and does not conflict with the OCI 1.1 referrers
+	// fallback index tag (sha256-<algorithm>-<hex>).
+	if tp, ok := pusher.(tagPusher); ok {
+		sigTag := legacyCosignSignatureTag(artifactDesc.Digest)
+		if err := tp.Tag(ctx, sigDesc, sigTag); err != nil {
+			return ocispec.Descriptor{}, fmt.Errorf("publish: tag signature manifest %q: %w", sigTag, err)
+		}
+	}
+
 	return sigDesc, nil
 }
+
+// legacyCosignSignatureTag returns the cosign legacy signature tag for a digest:
+// "sha256-<algorithm>-<hex>.sig". This matches cosign's SignatureTag naming
+// (github.com/sigstore/cosign/v3/pkg/oci/remote.normalize).
+func legacyCosignSignatureTag(d digest.Digest) string {
+	return strings.Replace(d.String(), ":", "-", 1) + ".sig"
+}
diff --git a/internal/adapter/publish/sign_test.go b/internal/adapter/publish/sign_test.go
index d31fe4c1..d62de508 100644
--- a/internal/adapter/publish/sign_test.go
+++ b/internal/adapter/publish/sign_test.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"crypto/x509"
 	"encoding/hex"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"io"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
@@ -170,4 +171,80 @@ func TestBuildSignatureManifest_HasEmptyConfigAndSchemaVersion(t *testing.T) {
 	if m.Subject == nil || m.Subject.Digest != artifactDesc.Digest {
 		t.Errorf("subject must reference the artifact digest")
 	}
+	if m.ArtifactType != cosignSignatureArtifactType {
+		t.Errorf("artifactType = %q, want %q", m.ArtifactType, cosignSignatureArtifactType)
+	}
+}
+
+// TestLegacyCosignSignatureTag matches the cosign "sha256-<algorithm>-<hex>.sig"
+// convention. This is the tag default cosign verification resolves when the
+// registry does not support the OCI 1.1 referrers API.
+func TestLegacyCosignSignatureTag(t *testing.T) {
+	dg := digest.FromString("some-artifact")
+	got := legacyCosignSignatureTag(dg)
+	want := strings.Replace(dg.String(), ":", "-", 1) + ".sig"
+	if got != want {
+		t.Errorf("legacyCosignSignatureTag = %q, want %q", got, want)
+	}
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(got, "sha256-") || !strings.HasSuffix(got, ".sig") {
+		t.Errorf("legacy tag %q does not look like a cosign signature tag", got)
+	}
+}
+
+// recordingTagPusher is a content.Pusher that also records tags pushed to it.
+type recordingTagPusher struct {
+	pushed map[digest.Digest][]byte
+	tagged map[string]digest.Digest
+}
+
+func newRecordingTagPusher() *recordingTagPusher {
+	return &recordingTagPusher{pushed: map[digest.Digest][]byte{}, tagged: map[string]digest.Digest{}}
+}
+
+//nolint:gocritic // desc is passed by value to satisfy the content.Pusher interface signature.
+func (p *recordingTagPusher) Push(ctx context.Context, desc ocispec.Descriptor, r io.Reader) error {
+	data, err := io.ReadAll(r)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	p.pushed[desc.Digest] = data
+	return nil
+}
+
+//nolint:gocritic // desc is passed by value to satisfy the tagPusher interface signature.
+func (p *recordingTagPusher) Tag(_ context.Context, desc ocispec.Descriptor, reference string) error {
+	p.tagged[reference] = desc.Digest
+	return nil
+}
+
+// TestSignArtifact_PublishesLegacySigTag verifies signArtifact tags the
+// signature manifest with the cosign legacy .sig tag when the store supports
+// tagging.
+func TestSignArtifact_PublishesLegacySigTag(t *testing.T) {
+	artifact := ocispec.Manifest{
+		MediaType: ocispec.MediaTypeImageManifest,
+		Config:    ocispec.Descriptor{MediaType: mediaTypeAdapterConfig, Digest: digest.FromString("{}"), Size: 2},
+	}
+	artifactData, _ := json.Marshal(artifact)
+	artifactDesc := ocispec.Descriptor{MediaType: ocispec.MediaTypeImageManifest, Digest: digest.FromBytes(artifactData), Size: int64(len(artifactData))}
+
+	_, priv, err := ed25519.GenerateKey(rand.Reader)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	ref := oci.Reference{Registry: "localhost:5001", Repo: "test/artifact", Tag: "v1"}
+	p := newRecordingTagPusher()
+
+	sigDesc, err := signArtifact(context.Background(), p, ref, &artifactDesc, KeySigner{Priv: priv})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("signArtifact: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	wantTag := legacyCosignSignatureTag(artifactDesc.Digest)
+	if taggedDigest, ok := p.tagged[wantTag]; !ok {
+		t.Errorf("signature manifest was not tagged with %q", wantTag)
+	} else if taggedDigest != sigDesc.Digest {
+		t.Errorf("tagged digest for %q = %q, want %q", wantTag, taggedDigest, sigDesc.Digest)
+	}
 }