diff --git a/paimon-core/src/main/java/org/apache/paimon/AbstractFileStore.java b/paimon-core/src/main/java/org/apache/paimon/AbstractFileStore.java
index b88798b9246d..ebf64c952068 100644
--- a/paimon-core/src/main/java/org/apache/paimon/AbstractFileStore.java
+++ b/paimon-core/src/main/java/org/apache/paimon/AbstractFileStore.java
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@
 import org.apache.paimon.tag.TagAutoManager;
 import org.apache.paimon.tag.TagPreview;
 import org.apache.paimon.types.RowType;
+import org.apache.paimon.utils.BranchManager;
 import org.apache.paimon.utils.ChainTableUtils;
 import org.apache.paimon.utils.ChangelogManager;
 import org.apache.paimon.utils.FileStorePathFactory;
@@ -398,8 +399,7 @@ private List<CommitPreCallback> createCommitPreCallbacks(FileStoreTable table) {
         if (options.isChainTable()) {
             callbacks.add(new ChainTableCommitPreCallback(table));
         }
-        if (options.toConfiguration().get(IcebergOptions.METADATA_ICEBERG_STORAGE)
-                != IcebergOptions.StorageType.DISABLED) {
+        if (icebergCompatibilityEnabled(table)) {
             callbacks.add(new IcebergPreCommitValidation(table));
         }
         return callbacks;
@@ -433,8 +433,7 @@ private List<CommitCallback> createCommitCallbacks(String commitUser, FileStoreT
             }
         }
 
-        if (options.toConfiguration().get(IcebergOptions.METADATA_ICEBERG_STORAGE)
-                != IcebergOptions.StorageType.DISABLED) {
+        if (icebergCompatibilityEnabled(table)) {
             callbacks.add(new IcebergCommitCallback(table, commitUser));
         }
 
@@ -597,13 +596,19 @@ public List<TagCallback> createTagCallbacks(FileStoreTable table) {
         if (options.tagCreateSuccessFile()) {
             callbacks.add(new SuccessFileTagCallback(fileIO, newTagManager().tagDirectory()));
         }
-        if (options.toConfiguration().get(IcebergOptions.METADATA_ICEBERG_STORAGE)
-                != IcebergOptions.StorageType.DISABLED) {
+        if (icebergCompatibilityEnabled(table)) {
             callbacks.add(new IcebergCommitCallback(table, ""));
         }
         return callbacks;
     }
 
+    private boolean icebergCompatibilityEnabled(FileStoreTable table) {
+        return options.toConfiguration().get(IcebergOptions.METADATA_ICEBERG_STORAGE)
+                        != IcebergOptions.StorageType.DISABLED
+                && BranchManager.isMainBranch(
+                        BranchManager.normalizeBranch(table.coreOptions().branch()));
+    }
+
     @Override
     public ServiceManager newServiceManager() {
         return new ServiceManager(fileIO, options.path());
diff --git a/paimon-core/src/test/java/org/apache/paimon/iceberg/IcebergCompatibilityTest.java b/paimon-core/src/test/java/org/apache/paimon/iceberg/IcebergCompatibilityTest.java
index acaf154edcf5..13d450c1db24 100644
--- a/paimon-core/src/test/java/org/apache/paimon/iceberg/IcebergCompatibilityTest.java
+++ b/paimon-core/src/test/java/org/apache/paimon/iceberg/IcebergCompatibilityTest.java
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@
 import org.apache.paimon.iceberg.manifest.IcebergManifestFile;
 import org.apache.paimon.iceberg.manifest.IcebergManifestFileMeta;
 import org.apache.paimon.iceberg.manifest.IcebergManifestList;
-import org.apache.paimon.iceberg.metadata.IcebergDataField;
 import org.apache.paimon.iceberg.metadata.IcebergMetadata;
 import org.apache.paimon.iceberg.metadata.IcebergRef;
 import org.apache.paimon.iceberg.metadata.IcebergSchema;
@@ -1766,13 +1765,20 @@ public void testExistingTableWithUnpublishableHistoricalTimestampsRefusesToCommi
     }
 
     @Test
-    public void testCommitOnBranchMirrorsTheBranchSchema() throws Exception {
+    public void testCommitAndTagOnBranchDoNotModifyMainMetadata() throws Exception {
+        RecordingIcebergMetadataCommitter.COMMITS.clear();
         RowType rowType =
                 RowType.of(
                         new DataType[] {DataTypes.INT(), DataTypes.INT()}, new String[] {"k", "v"});
         FileStoreTable table =
                 createPaimonTable(
-                        rowType, Collections.emptyList(), Collections.singletonList("k"), 1);
+                        rowType,
+                        Collections.emptyList(),
+                        Collections.singletonList("k"),
+                        1,
+                        Collections.singletonMap(
+                                IcebergOptions.METADATA_ICEBERG_STORAGE.key(),
+                                IcebergOptions.StorageType.HADOOP_CATALOG.toString()));
 
         String commitUser = UUID.randomUUID().toString();
         try (TableWriteImpl<?> write = table.newWrite(commitUser);
@@ -1785,25 +1791,35 @@ public void testCommitOnBranchMirrorsTheBranchSchema() throws Exception {
         new SchemaManager(table.fileIO(), table.location(), "b1")
                 .commitChanges(SchemaChange.addColumn("branch_only", DataTypes.INT()));
 
+        try (TableWriteImpl<?> write = table.newWrite(commitUser);
+                TableCommitImpl commit = table.newCommit(commitUser)) {
+            write.write(GenericRow.of(3, 30));
+            commit.commit(2, write.prepareCommit(false, 2));
+        }
+
+        Path metadataDirectory = IcebergCommitCallback.catalogTableMetadataPath(table);
+        Path mainMetadataPathV1 = new Path(metadataDirectory, "v1.metadata.json");
+        String mainMetadataV1 = table.fileIO().readFileUtf8(mainMetadataPathV1);
+        Path mainMetadataPathV2 = new Path(metadataDirectory, "v2.metadata.json");
+        String mainMetadataV2 = table.fileIO().readFileUtf8(mainMetadataPathV2);
+        Path mainVersionHint =
+                new Path(
+                        IcebergCommitCallback.catalogTableMetadataPath(table), "version-hint.text");
+        String versionHint = table.fileIO().readFileUtf8(mainVersionHint);
+
         FileStoreTable branchTable = table.switchToBranch("b1");
+        RecordingIcebergMetadataCommitter.COMMITS.clear();
         try (TableWriteImpl<?> write = branchTable.newWrite(commitUser);
                 TableCommitImpl commit = branchTable.newCommit(commitUser)) {
             write.write(GenericRow.of(2, 20, 200));
             commit.commit(2, write.prepareCommit(false, 2));
         }
+        branchTable.createTag("branch-tag");
 
-        IcebergMetadata metadata =
-                IcebergMetadata.fromPath(
-                        branchTable.fileIO(),
-                        new Path(
-                                branchTable.location(),
-                                "metadata/v"
-                                        + branchTable.snapshotManager().latestSnapshotId()
-                                        + ".metadata.json"));
-        assertThat(
-                        metadata.schemas().get(metadata.currentSchemaId()).fields().stream()
-                                .map(IcebergDataField::name))
-                .containsExactly("k", "v", "branch_only");
+        assertThat(table.fileIO().readFileUtf8(mainMetadataPathV1)).isEqualTo(mainMetadataV1);
+        assertThat(table.fileIO().readFileUtf8(mainMetadataPathV2)).isEqualTo(mainMetadataV2);
+        assertThat(table.fileIO().readFileUtf8(mainVersionHint)).isEqualTo(versionHint);
+        assertThat(RecordingIcebergMetadataCommitter.COMMITS).isEmpty();
     }
 
     /*
@@ -2826,8 +2842,11 @@ private FileStoreTable createPaimonTable(
 
         Options options = new Options(customOptions);
         options.set(CoreOptions.BUCKET, numBuckets);
-        options.set(
-                IcebergOptions.METADATA_ICEBERG_STORAGE, IcebergOptions.StorageType.TABLE_LOCATION);
+        if (!options.contains(IcebergOptions.METADATA_ICEBERG_STORAGE)) {
+            options.set(
+                    IcebergOptions.METADATA_ICEBERG_STORAGE,
+                    IcebergOptions.StorageType.TABLE_LOCATION);
+        }
         options.set(CoreOptions.FILE_FORMAT, "avro");
         options.set(CoreOptions.TARGET_FILE_SIZE, MemorySize.ofKibiBytes(32));
         options.set(IcebergOptions.COMPACT_MIN_FILE_NUM, 4);