diff --git a/buildconfig/stubs/pygame/rwobject.pyi b/buildconfig/stubs/pygame/rwobject.pyi
index 38161fab81..d14c62a804 100644
--- a/buildconfig/stubs/pygame/rwobject.pyi
+++ b/buildconfig/stubs/pygame/rwobject.pyi
@@ -1,16 +1,16 @@
 from typing import Any, Optional, overload, Type
 
-from pygame.typing import PathLike
+from pygame.typing import _PathLike
 
 def encode_string(
-    obj: Optional[PathLike],
+    obj: Optional[_PathLike],
     encoding: Optional[str] = "unicode_escape",
     errors: Optional[str] = "backslashreplace",
     etype: Optional[Type[Exception]] = UnicodeEncodeError,
 ) -> bytes: ...
 @overload
 def encode_file_path(
-    obj: Optional[PathLike], etype: Optional[Type[Exception]] = UnicodeEncodeError
+    obj: Optional[_PathLike], etype: Optional[Type[Exception]] = UnicodeEncodeError
 ) -> bytes: ...
 @overload
 def encode_file_path(
diff --git a/buildconfig/stubs/pygame/typing.pyi b/buildconfig/stubs/pygame/typing.pyi
index f3f7aad434..2707a37557 100644
--- a/buildconfig/stubs/pygame/typing.pyi
+++ b/buildconfig/stubs/pygame/typing.pyi
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ __all__ = [
     "RectLike",
     "SequenceLike",
     "FileLike",
-    "PathLike",
     "ColorLike",
     "RGBATuple",
     "Coordinate",
@@ -29,9 +28,9 @@ else:
 
 
 # For functions that take a file name
-PathLike = Union[str, bytes, _PathProtocol[str], _PathProtocol[bytes]]
+_PathLike = Union[str, bytes, _PathProtocol[str], _PathProtocol[bytes]]
 # Most pygame functions that take a file argument should be able to handle a FileLike type
-FileLike = Union[PathLike, IO[bytes], IO[str]]
+FileLike = Union[_PathLike, IO[bytes], IO[str]]
 
 _T_co = TypeVar("_T_co", covariant=True)
 
diff --git a/buildconfig/stubs/typing_sample_app.py b/buildconfig/stubs/typing_sample_app.py
index 33b3bac0a8..58e853cbc8 100644
--- a/buildconfig/stubs/typing_sample_app.py
+++ b/buildconfig/stubs/typing_sample_app.py
@@ -44,12 +44,12 @@ def validator_SequenceLikeTypes(
 )
 
 
-# validate PathLike
+# validate _PathLike
 class MyPath:
     def __fspath__(self) -> str:
         return "file.py"
 
-def validator_PathLike(path: typing.PathLike) -> int:
+def validator_PathLike(path: typing._PathLike) -> int:
     return 0
 
 # must pass
diff --git a/docs/reST/ref/typing.rst b/docs/reST/ref/typing.rst
index 764f05a28d..7c71f6e18b 100644
--- a/docs/reST/ref/typing.rst
+++ b/docs/reST/ref/typing.rst
@@ -14,20 +14,17 @@ A lot of pygame functions and methods allow the user to provide different types
 for the same value like colors or coordinates. This module exports the most common
 type aliases for proper typehint annotations.
 
-   .. data:: PathLike
+   .. data:: FileLike
 
-      An object representing a file path, i.e.:
+      An object representing a file. This includes both path-like
+      objects and file-like objects, i.e.:
 
         * ``"my/string/path.txt"``
+        * ``open("my/file/path.txt")``
         * ``pathlib.Path("my/pathlib/path.txt")``
+        * ``io.BytesIO(b"my data: \x00\x01")``
         * ``b"my/bytes/path.txt"``
-        * Any object implementing the path protocol (with a ``__fspath__`` magic method)
-
-   .. data:: FileLike
-
-      An object representing a file. Same as :mod:`pygame.typing.PathLike` with
-      the addition of file buffers (``IO`` of strings or bytes) such as the
-      return value of ``open()``.
+        * Any object implementing the path protocol or file protocol.
 
    .. data:: SequenceLike
 
diff --git a/src_c/doc/typing_doc.h b/src_c/doc/typing_doc.h
index ed354c8439..28bc35fd91 100644
--- a/src_c/doc/typing_doc.h
+++ b/src_c/doc/typing_doc.h
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 /* Auto generated file: with make_docs.py .  Docs go in docs/reST/ref/ . */
 #define DOC_TYPING "pygame module providing common typehints"
-#define DOC_TYPING_PATHLIKE ""
 #define DOC_TYPING_FILELIKE ""
 #define DOC_TYPING_SEQUENCELIKE ""
 #define DOC_TYPING_COORDINATE ""
diff --git a/src_py/typing.py b/src_py/typing.py
index f3f7aad434..2707a37557 100644
--- a/src_py/typing.py
+++ b/src_py/typing.py
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
     "RectLike",
     "SequenceLike",
     "FileLike",
-    "PathLike",
     "ColorLike",
     "RGBATuple",
     "Coordinate",
@@ -29,9 +28,9 @@ def __fspath__(self) -> _AnyStr_co: ...
 
 
 # For functions that take a file name
-PathLike = Union[str, bytes, _PathProtocol[str], _PathProtocol[bytes]]
+_PathLike = Union[str, bytes, _PathProtocol[str], _PathProtocol[bytes]]
 # Most pygame functions that take a file argument should be able to handle a FileLike type
-FileLike = Union[PathLike, IO[bytes], IO[str]]
+FileLike = Union[_PathLike, IO[bytes], IO[str]]
 
 _T_co = TypeVar("_T_co", covariant=True)