InnoDB search indexes (with a type of FULLTEXT), introduced in MySQL 5.6.4, are not compatible with earlier versions of MySQL, including earlier releases in the 5.6 series. Drop such indexes before performing a downgrade.

InnoDB small page sizes specified by the innodb_page_size configuration option, introduced in MySQL 5.6.4, are not compatible with earlier versions of MySQL, including earlier releases in the 5.6 series. Dump all InnoDB tables in instances that use a smaller InnoDB page size, drop the tables, and re-create and reload them after the downgrade.

As of MySQL 5.6, the relay-log.info file contains a line count and a replication delay value, so the file format differs from that in older versions. See Section 16.2.2.2, “Slave Status Logs”. If you downgrade a slave server to a version older than MySQL 5.6, the older server will not read the file correctly. To address this, modify the file in a text editor to delete the initial line containing the number of lines.