OTLPv1.11.0

21 Jul 2026since v1.10.0

0 breaking14 notable29 editorial

From the upstream release notes

docs: add request size limitation for HTTP body and gRPC messages. https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-proto/pull/782
docs: add response size limitation for HTTP body and gRPC messages. https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-proto/pull/781, https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-proto/pull/800, https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-proto/pull/801, https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-proto/pull/802
processcontext: add ProcessContext message described in OTEP 4719. https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-proto/pull/783
docs: clarify that Retry-After header value can be an HTTP-date. https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-proto/pull/806

Read the full release notes

Notable14

new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlpgrpc-requestMUST added: The server MUST enforce a message size limit when receiving the request, including after decompression, to mitigate possible excessive memory usage caused by a misconfigured or malicious client sending an oversized requ...
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlpgrpc-requestMUST added: If the limit is exceeded, the gRPC server implementations MUST report a RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED code as a non-retryable error.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlpgrpc-requestMUST NOT added: If the limit is exceeded, the client MUST NOT make the request and SHOULD record the fact that the request was discarded.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlpgrpc-responseMUST added: The client MUST enforce a message size limit when receiving the response, including after decompression, to mitigate possible excessive memory usage caused by a misconfigured or malicious server. gRPC client implementat...
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlpgrpc-responseMUST added: If the limit is exceeded, the client MUST treat the response as a non-retryable error.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlpgrpc-responseMUST added: The server MUST limit the size of the response message, including before compression, to avoid overwhelming the client.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlpgrpc-responseMUST added: If the response still cannot fit within the limit, the server MUST fail the request with the RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED code as a non-retryable error.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlphttp-requestMUST added: The server MUST limit the size of the request body when parsing it, including after decompression, to mitigate possible excessive memory usage caused by a misconfigured or malicious client sending an oversized request.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlphttp-requestMUST added: If the limit is exceeded, the server MUST respond with HTTP 413 Content Too Large.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlphttp-requestMUST NOT added: If the limit is exceeded, the client MUST NOT make the request and SHOULD record the fact that the request was discarded.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlphttp-responseMUST added: The client MUST limit the size of the response body when parsing it, including after decompression, to mitigate possible excessive memory usage caused by a misconfigured or malicious server.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlphttp-responseMUST added: If the limit is exceeded, the client MUST treat the response as a non-retryable error and SHOULD record the fact that the response was discarded.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlphttp-responseMUST added: The server MUST limit the size of the response body, including before compression, to avoid overwhelming the client.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlphttp-responseMUST added: If the response still cannot fit within the limit, the server MUST fail the request with HTTP 500 Internal Server Error.

Editorial29

new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlpgrpc-requestRECOMMENDED added: However, it is RECOMMENDED to use 64 MiB as the default limit.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlpgrpc-requestSHOULD added: Implementations SHOULD allow this limit to be configured.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlpgrpc-requestSHOULD added: The client SHOULD limit the size of the request message, including before compression, to avoid overwhelming the server.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlpgrpc-requestRECOMMENDED added: It is RECOMMENDED to use 64 MiB as the default limit.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlpgrpc-responseSHOULD added: Implementations SHOULD allow this limit to be configured.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlpgrpc-responseRECOMMENDED added: It is RECOMMENDED to use 4 MiB as the default limit.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlpgrpc-responseSHOULD added: For a Partial Success response that would otherwise exceed the limit, the server SHOULD reduce the response size without changing response semantics if it is possible and practical.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlpgrpc-responseMAY added: To do so, the server MAY decrease the verbosity of optional diagnostic fields, such as partialsuccess.errormessage, or omit optional diagnostic fields.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlphttp-requestRECOMMENDED added: It is RECOMMENDED to use 64 MiB as the default limit.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlphttp-requestSHOULD added: Implementations SHOULD allow this limit to be configured.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlphttp-requestSHOULD added: The client SHOULD limit the size of the request body, including before compression, to avoid overwhelming the server.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlphttp-responseRECOMMENDED added: It is RECOMMENDED to use 4 MiB as the default limit.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlphttp-responseSHOULD added: Implementations SHOULD allow this limit to be configured.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlphttp-responseSHOULD added: For a Partial Success response that would otherwise exceed the limit, the server SHOULD reduce the response size without changing response semantics if it is possible and practical.
new rulerequirementdocs/specification.md#otlphttp-responseMAY added: To do so, the server MAY decrease the verbosity of optional diagnostic fields, such as partialsuccess.errormessage, or omit optional diagnostic fields.
rewordedrequirementdocs/specification.md#failuresMUST NOT reworded: Non-retryable errors indicate that telemetry data processing failed, and the client MUST NOT retry sending the same telemetry data.
rewordedrequirementdocs/specification.md#failuresMAY reworded: To indicate non-retryable errors, the server is recommended to use code InvalidArgument and MAY supply additional details via status using BadRequest.
rewordedrequirementdocs/specification.md#failuresMAY reworded: The server MAY use other gRPC codes to indicate retryable and non-retryable errors if those other gRPC codes are more appropriate for a particular erroneous situation.
rewordedrequirementdocs/specification.md#failuresSHOULD reworded: The client SHOULD interpret gRPC status codes as retryable or non-retryable according to the following table:
rewordedrequirementdocs/specification.md#failures-1SHOULD reworded: The server SHOULD use HTTP response status codes to indicate retryable and non-retryable errors for a particular erroneous situation.
rewordedrequirementdocs/specification.md#failures-1SHOULD reworded: The client SHOULD honour HTTP response status codes as retryable or non-retryable.
rewordedrequirementdocs/specification.md#otlphttp-throttlingSHOULD reworded: If the server receives more requests than the client is allowed or the server is overloaded, the server SHOULD respond with HTTP 429 Too Many Requests or HTTP 503 Service Unavailable and MAY incl...
rewordedrequirementdocs/specification.md#otlphttp-throttlingSHOULD reworded: The client SHOULD honour the value specified in the "Retry-After" header if it is present.
addeddocumentprocess-context/process-context.mdNew document: Process Context Sharing Protocol (Unspecified).
addedsectiondocs/specification.md#otlpgrpc-requestNew section "OTLP/gRPC Request".
addedmessageopentelemetry.proto.processcontext.v1development.ProcessContextProcessContext represents the payload for the process context sharing mechanism. This message is designed to be published by OpenTelemetry SDKs via a memory-mapped region, allowing external readers (such as the OpenTelemetry eBPF Profiler) to discover and read resource attributes from instrumented ...
rewrittensectiondocs/specification.md#otlpgrpc-response"OTLP/gRPC Response" substantially rewritten (194 to 1605 characters).
rewrittensectiondocs/specification.md#otlphttp-request"OTLP/HTTP Request" substantially rewritten (1193 to 1963 characters).
rewrittensectiondocs/specification.md#otlphttp-response"OTLP/HTTP Response" substantially rewritten (706 to 1962 characters).