diff --git a/conftest.py b/conftest.py
index 33e188fd52..79b9714191 100644
--- a/conftest.py
+++ b/conftest.py
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ def check_required_loopback_interfaces_available():
 
 
 def pytest_addoption(parser):
+    parser.addoption("--sstable-format", action="store", default="bti",
+                     help="SSTable format to be used by default for all newly created SSTables: "
+                          "big or bti (default: bti)")
     parser.addoption("--use-vnodes", action="store_true", default=False,
                      help="Determines wither or not to setup clusters using vnodes for tests")
     parser.addoption("--use-off-heap-memtables", action="store_true", default=False,
diff --git a/cqlsh_tests/test_cqlsh.py b/cqlsh_tests/test_cqlsh.py
index fa1edade75..769fba6dd0 100644
--- a/cqlsh_tests/test_cqlsh.py
+++ b/cqlsh_tests/test_cqlsh.py
@@ -1077,6 +1077,7 @@ def get_test_table_output(self, has_val=True, has_val_idx=True):
             AND comment = ''
             AND compaction = {'class': 'org.apache.cassandra.db.compaction.SizeTieredCompactionStrategy', 'max_threshold': '32', 'min_threshold': '4'}
             AND compression = {'chunk_length_in_kb': '16', 'class': 'org.apache.cassandra.io.compress.LZ4Compressor'}
+            AND memtable = {}
             AND crc_check_chance = 1.0
             AND default_time_to_live = 0
             AND extensions = {}
@@ -1166,6 +1167,7 @@ def get_users_table_output(self):
             AND comment = ''
             AND compaction = {'class': 'org.apache.cassandra.db.compaction.SizeTieredCompactionStrategy', 'max_threshold': '32', 'min_threshold': '4'}
             AND compression = {'chunk_length_in_kb': '16', 'class': 'org.apache.cassandra.io.compress.LZ4Compressor'}
+            AND memtable = {}
             AND crc_check_chance = 1.0
             AND default_time_to_live = 0
             AND extensions = {}
@@ -1272,6 +1274,7 @@ def get_users_by_state_mv_output(self):
                 AND comment = ''
                 AND compaction = {'class': 'org.apache.cassandra.db.compaction.SizeTieredCompactionStrategy', 'max_threshold': '32', 'min_threshold': '4'}
                 AND compression = {'chunk_length_in_kb': '16', 'class': 'org.apache.cassandra.io.compress.LZ4Compressor'}
+                AND memtable = {}
                 AND crc_check_chance = 1.0
                 AND default_time_to_live = 0
                 AND extensions = {}
diff --git a/dtest_config.py b/dtest_config.py
index 86e8c96b25..fbe15a9f2a 100644
--- a/dtest_config.py
+++ b/dtest_config.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 
 class DTestConfig:
     def __init__(self):
+        self.sstable_format = "bti"
         self.use_vnodes = True
         self.use_off_heap_memtables = False
         self.num_tokens = -1
@@ -41,6 +42,11 @@ def setup(self, config):
             self.cassandra_version_from_build = self.get_version_from_build()
             return
 
+        self.sstable_format = config.getoption("--sstable-format")
+        assert self.sstable_format in ['bti', 'big'], "SSTable format {} is invalid - must be either bti or big".format(self.sstable_format)
+        default_sstable_format_prop = " -Dcassandra.sstable.format.default=" + self.sstable_format
+        os.environ.update({"JVM_EXTRA_OPTS": (os.environ.get("JVM_EXTRA_OPTS") or "") + default_sstable_format_prop})
+
         self.use_vnodes = config.getoption("--use-vnodes")
         self.use_off_heap_memtables = config.getoption("--use-off-heap-memtables")
         self.num_tokens = config.getoption("--num-tokens")
diff --git a/offline_tools_test.py b/offline_tools_test.py
index 8f6f98dcc1..502bebf054 100644
--- a/offline_tools_test.py
+++ b/offline_tools_test.py
@@ -266,9 +266,9 @@ def test_sstableverify(self):
             hashcomputed = False
             for line in outlines:
                 if sstable in line:
-                    if "Verifying BigTableReader" in line:
+                    if "Verifying " in line:
                         verified = True
-                    elif "Checking computed hash of BigTableReader" in line:
+                    elif "Checking computed hash of " in line:
                         hashcomputed = True
                     else:
                         logger.debug(line)
diff --git a/run_dtests.py b/run_dtests.py
index 34dd5af766..3f3e1fda91 100755
--- a/run_dtests.py
+++ b/run_dtests.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 """
-usage: run_dtests.py [-h] [--use-vnodes] [--use-off-heap-memtables] [--num-tokens=NUM_TOKENS] [--data-dir-count-per-instance=DATA_DIR_COUNT_PER_INSTANCE]
+usage: run_dtests.py [-h] [--sstable-format=FORMAT] [--use-vnodes] [--use-off-heap-memtables] [--num-tokens=NUM_TOKENS] [--data-dir-count-per-instance=DATA_DIR_COUNT_PER_INSTANCE]
                      [--force-resource-intensive-tests] [--skip-resource-intensive-tests] [--cassandra-dir=CASSANDRA_DIR] [--cassandra-version=CASSANDRA_VERSION]
                      [--delete-logs] [--execute-upgrade-tests] [--execute-upgrade-tests-only] [--disable-active-log-watching] [--keep-test-dir]
                      [--enable-jacoco-code-coverage] [--dtest-enable-debug-logging] [--dtest-print-tests-only] [--dtest-print-tests-output=DTEST_PRINT_TESTS_OUTPUT]
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 
 optional arguments:
   -h, --help                                                 show this help message and exit
+  --sstable-format                                           SSTable format to be used by default for all newly created SSTables: big or bti (default: bti)
   --use-vnodes                                               Determines wither or not to setup clusters using vnodes for tests (default: False)
   --use-off-heap-memtables                                   Enable Off Heap Memtables when creating test clusters for tests (default: False)
   --num-tokens=NUM_TOKENS                                    Number of tokens to set num_tokens yaml setting to when creating instances with vnodes enabled (default: 256)