diff --git a/system-test/timestamp_output_format.ts b/system-test/timestamp_output_format.ts
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/system-test/timestamp_output_format.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+// Copyright 2026 Google LLC
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+import * as assert from 'assert';
+import {describe, it, before, after} from 'mocha';
+import {BigQuery} from '@google-cloud/bigquery';
+import {randomUUID} from 'crypto';
+import * as bigquerystorage from '../src';
+import {tableFromIPC} from 'apache-arrow';
+
+const bigquery = new BigQuery();
+
+interface TestCase {
+  name: string;
+  timestampOutputFormat?: string;
+  useInt64Timestamp?: boolean;
+  expectedError?: string;
+  expectedTsValue?: string;
+}
+
+describe('Timestamp Output Format System Tests', () => {
+  const datasetId = `timestamp_test_${randomUUID().replace(/-/g, '_')}`;
+  const tableId = `timestamp_table_${randomUUID().replace(/-/g, '_')}`;
+  const dataset = bigquery.dataset(datasetId);
+  const table = dataset.table(tableId);
+  const insertedTsValue = '2023-01-01T12:00:00.123456789123Z';
+  const expectedTsValuePicoseconds = '2023-01-01T12:00:00.123456789123Z';
+
+  before(async () => {
+    await dataset.create();
+    await table.create({
+      schema: [{name: 'ts', type: 'TIMESTAMP', timestampPrecision: '12'}],
+    });
+    // Insert a row to test retrieval
+    await table.insert([{ts: insertedTsValue}]);
+  });
+
+  after(async () => {
+    try {
+      await dataset.delete({force: true});
+    } catch (e) {
+      console.error('Error deleting dataset:', e);
+    }
+  });
+
+  const testCases: TestCase[] = [
+    {
+      name: 'Picosecond precision as string',
+      timestampOutputFormat: 'STRING',
+      expectedTsValue: expectedTsValuePicoseconds,
+    },
+  ];
+
+  for (const tc of testCases) {
+    it(tc.name, async () => {
+      const bqReadClient = new bigquerystorage.BigQueryReadClient();
+      const projectId = await bqReadClient.getProjectId();
+
+      try {
+        const [session] = await bqReadClient.createReadSession({
+          parent: `projects/${projectId}`,
+          readSession: {
+            table: `projects/${projectId}/datasets/${datasetId}/tables/${tableId}`,
+            dataFormat: 'ARROW',
+            readOptions: {
+              arrowSerializationOptions: {
+                timestampOutputFormat: tc.timestampOutputFormat,
+              } as any,
+            },
+          },
+        });
+
+        const readStream = session.streams![0].name!;
+        const stream = bqReadClient.readRows({
+          readStream,
+          offset: 0,
+        });
+
+        // Consuming the stream and collecting arrow record batches
+        const chunks: Uint8Array[] = [];
+        for await (const response of stream) {
+          if (response.arrowRecordBatch?.serializedRecordBatch) {
+            chunks.push(response.arrowRecordBatch.serializedRecordBatch);
+          }
+        }
+
+        // Decode Arrow data
+        const schema = session.arrowSchema!.serializedSchema!;
+        const arrowTable = tableFromIPC(
+          Buffer.concat([schema as Uint8Array, ...chunks])
+        );
+
+        assert.strictEqual(arrowTable.numRows, 1);
+        const row = arrowTable.get(0);
+
+        if (tc.expectedTsValue) {
+          // Accessing the 'ts' field from the decoded Arrow row
+          assert.strictEqual(row!.ts.toString(), tc.expectedTsValue);
+        }
+      } finally {
+        await bqReadClient.close();
+      }
+    });
+  }
+});