diff --git a/asdf/_tests/test_reference_files.py b/asdf/_tests/test_reference_files.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 02241a7fd..000000000
--- a/asdf/_tests/test_reference_files.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,72 +0,0 @@
-import os
-import sys
-
-import pytest
-
-from asdf import open as asdf_open
-from asdf import versioning
-
-from ._helpers import assert_tree_match
-
-_REFFILE_PATH = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "..", "..", "asdf-standard", "reference_files")
-
-
-def get_test_id(reference_file_path):
-    """Helper function to return the informative part of a schema path"""
-    path = os.path.normpath(str(reference_file_path))
-    return os.path.sep.join(path.split(os.path.sep)[-3:])
-
-
-def collect_reference_files():
-    """Function used by pytest to collect ASDF reference files for testing."""
-    for version in versioning.supported_versions:
-        version_dir = os.path.join(_REFFILE_PATH, str(version))
-        if os.path.exists(version_dir):
-            for filename in os.listdir(version_dir):
-                if filename.endswith(".asdf"):
-                    filepath = os.path.join(version_dir, filename)
-                    basename, _ = os.path.splitext(filepath)
-                    if os.path.exists(basename + ".yaml"):
-                        yield filepath
-
-
-def _compare_trees(name_without_ext, expect_warnings=False):
-    asdf_path = name_without_ext + ".asdf"
-    yaml_path = name_without_ext + ".yaml"
-
-    with asdf_open(asdf_path) as af_handle:
-        af_handle.resolve_references()
-
-        with asdf_open(yaml_path) as ref:
-
-            def _compare_func():
-                assert_tree_match(af_handle.tree, ref.tree, funcname="assert_allclose")
-
-            if expect_warnings:
-                # Make sure to only suppress warnings when they are expected.
-                # However, there's still a chance of missing warnings that we
-                # actually care about here.
-                with pytest.warns(RuntimeWarning):
-                    _compare_func()
-            else:
-                _compare_func()
-
-
-@pytest.mark.parametrize("reference_file", collect_reference_files(), ids=get_test_id)
-def test_reference_file(reference_file):
-    basename = os.path.basename(reference_file)
-    name_without_ext, _ = os.path.splitext(reference_file)
-
-    known_fail = False
-    expect_warnings = "complex" in reference_file
-
-    if sys.maxunicode <= 65535:
-        known_fail = known_fail or (basename in ("unicode_spp.asdf"))
-
-    try:
-        _compare_trees(name_without_ext, expect_warnings=expect_warnings)
-    except Exception:
-        if known_fail:
-            pytest.xfail()
-        else:
-            raise