---
id: opentelemetry-propagator-jaeger
version: "1.44.0"
license: Apache-2.0
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# opentelemetry-propagator-jaeger — OpenTelemetry Jaeger Propagator

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 3.2M/mo

## What it is and what it does

This package implements the Jaeger trace propagation format for OpenTelemetry, a standardized way to pass distributed trace context (trace ID, span ID, sampling decision) across service boundaries. It acts as a bridge between OpenTelemetry's instrumentation framework and Jaeger's tracing backend, allowing traces to be correlated when requests flow through multiple services.

The propagator works by encoding and decoding trace context in HTTP headers and other transport mechanisms using Jaeger's wire format. It integrates with OpenTelemetry's global propagation system, so once installed and configured, it automatically handles context propagation without requiring changes to application code. This is essential for observability in microservices architectures where you need to follow a single user request across multiple services.

Use it for:

- Correlate traces across microservices using Jaeger as the tracing backend in an OpenTelemetry-instrumented system.
- Propagate trace context through HTTP headers when calling downstream services to maintain end-to-end trace visibility.
- Integrate legacy Jaeger-instrumented services with new OpenTelemetry-based services in the same observability pipeline.
- Enable distributed tracing in containerized or Kubernetes environments where Jaeger is the centralized trace collector.
- Support trace sampling decisions across service boundaries to control observability overhead in high-traffic systems.

## Worth the install?

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

Provides trace context propagation for the Jaeger distributed tracing format, enabling trace correlation across service boundaries in OpenTelemetry instrumented applications.

Yes, if you are using OpenTelemetry for instrumentation and Jaeger as your distributed tracing backend. This is a lightweight, actively maintained, production-stable propagator with no known vulnerabilities and permissive licensing. Install it to enable trace correlation across your services; without it, trace context will not propagate correctly to Jaeger.

## Install

pip install opentelemetry-propagator-jaeger
uv add opentelemetry-propagator-jaeger
poetry add opentelemetry-propagator-jaeger

## Installing opentelemetry-propagator-jaeger

Before you install: Low installation friction with a single runtime dependency (opentelemetry-api). Actively maintained with a recent release (29 days old) and current commit history. Supports modern Python versions (3.10–3.14) and marked as Production/Stable.

License in practice: Licensed under Apache-2.0 (permissive), allowing use in commercial and proprietary projects with minimal restrictions beyond attribution and liability disclaimers.

Quickstart:

pip install opentelemetry-propagator-jaeger

from opentelemetry.propagators.jaeger import JaegerPropagator
from opentelemetry.propagate import set_global_textmap

set_global_textmap(JaegerPropagator())

Requires Python 3.10 or later; opentelemetry-api must be installed as a runtime dependency.

Verify before relying:

- Whether this propagator is automatically registered or requires explicit configuration in all deployment scenarios.
- Compatibility with Jaeger client versions beyond 1.21 and any breaking changes in newer Jaeger propagation formats.

## Package facts

- License: Apache-2.0 (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 3.2M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

jaeger trace propagation, opentelemetry jaeger format, distributed trace context, jaeger propagator, trace header propagation, opentelemetry instrumentation, jaeger tracing integration, distributed-tracing, observability, jaeger

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/opentelemetry-propagator-jaeger) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/opentelemetry-propagator-jaeger/)