---
id: opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin-proto-http
version: "1.44.0"
license: Apache-2.0
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin-proto-http — Zipkin Span Protobuf Exporter for OpenTelemetry

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 230.4K/mo

## What it is and what it does

This package provides an OpenTelemetry exporter that sends distributed tracing spans to a Zipkin backend using Protobuf as the wire format. It integrates with the OpenTelemetry SDK to capture and serialize trace data, then transmits it over HTTP to a Zipkin collector. The exporter depends on opentelemetry-api, opentelemetry-sdk, opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin-json, protobuf, and requests.

It is part of the OpenTelemetry ecosystem and targets developers building observable systems who want to use Zipkin as their trace backend. The package is production-stable, actively maintained, and supports Python 3.10 through 3.14. It is most useful when you already have a Zipkin instance running and want Protobuf serialization instead of JSON.

Use it for:

- Send distributed traces from a Python microservice to a Zipkin backend for centralized trace visualization.
- Export application spans in Protobuf format to reduce bandwidth in high-volume tracing scenarios.
- Integrate OpenTelemetry instrumentation with an existing Zipkin observability stack.
- Collect and analyze request flows across multiple services using Zipkin's UI.
- Monitor latency and errors in distributed systems by exporting structured trace data.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Exports OpenTelemetry tracing data to Zipkin using Protobuf serialization over HTTP, enabling distributed trace collection and analysis.

Yes, if you are already using OpenTelemetry and Zipkin. The package is production-stable, actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and low install friction. Install it only if you need Protobuf serialization; if JSON export suffices, opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin-json may be simpler. Requires Python 3.10+.

## Install

pip install opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin-proto-http
uv add opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin-proto-http
poetry add opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin-proto-http

## Installing opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin-proto-http

Before you install: Low install friction; pure Python wheel with no compiled dependencies. Active maintenance with recent release (29 days old) and steady upstream activity in the OpenTelemetry project.

License in practice: Apache-2.0 permissive license allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions; suitable for most projects.

Quickstart:

pip install opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin-proto-http

from opentelemetry.exporter.zipkin.proto.http import ZipkinExporter
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace import TracerProvider
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace.export import SimpleSpanProcessor

zipkin_exporter = ZipkinExporter(localServiceName="my-service")
tracer_provider = TracerProvider()
tracer_provider.add_span_processor(SimpleSpanProcessor(zipkin_exporter))

Requires Python 3.10 or later; Zipkin backend must be running and accessible at the configured endpoint.

Verify before relying:

- Whether Protobuf serialization offers measurable performance or bandwidth benefits over the JSON variant in typical deployments.
- Whether the exporter handles backpressure or batching automatically or requires explicit configuration.

## Package facts

- License: Apache-2.0 (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 230.4K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

zipkin trace exporter, opentelemetry protobuf export, distributed tracing zipkin, telemetry data export, span protobuf serialization, opentelemetry zipkin integration, trace collection http, observability, distributed-tracing, opentelemetry

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin-proto-http) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin-proto-http/)