# OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP) gRPC API

**Canonical:** https://apis.io/apis/opentelemetry/opentelemetry-protocol-otlp-grpc-api/  
**Provider:** OpenTelemetry — https://apis.io/providers/opentelemetry/  
**Documentation:** https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/otlp/#otlpgrpc

OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP) gRPC API is one of 6 APIs that [OpenTelemetry](https://apis.io/providers/opentelemetry/) publishes on the [APIs.io](https://apis.io/) network. Tagged areas include gRPC, Logging, Metrics, Observability, and Tracing. The published artifact set on APIs.io includes API documentation, an API reference, and a GitHub repository.

The OTLP gRPC API defines Protocol Buffers service definitions for exporting traces, metrics, and logs over gRPC. It is the primary transport for OpenTelemetry data between SDK instrumentation, the OpenTelemetry Collector, and observability backends, offering bidirectional streaming and efficient binary encoding.

## Machine-readable artifacts (4)

- **Documentation** — https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/otlp/#otlpgrpc
- **Reference** — https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/otlp/#otlpgrpc-response
- **GitHubRepository** — https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-proto
- **APIsJSON** — https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/opentelemetry/refs/heads/main/apis.yml

## Other OpenTelemetry APIs (5)

- [OpenTelemetry Collector API](https://apis.io/apis/opentelemetry/opentelemetry-collector-api/)
- [OpenTelemetry SDK API](https://apis.io/apis/opentelemetry/opentelemetry-sdk-api/)
- [OpenTelemetry Logs API](https://apis.io/apis/opentelemetry/opentelemetry-logs-api/)
- [OpenTelemetry Metrics API](https://apis.io/apis/opentelemetry/opentelemetry-metrics-api/)
- [OpenTelemetry Traces API](https://apis.io/apis/opentelemetry/opentelemetry-traces-api/)

## Tags

gRPC, Logging, Metrics, Observability, Tracing

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Profiled by [API Evangelist](https://apievangelist.com) and published on [APIs.io](https://apis.io/apis/opentelemetry/opentelemetry-protocol-otlp-grpc-api/). The API's provider profile, Kin Score and agent-readiness rating are at https://apis.io/providers/opentelemetry/.