On June 12, 2026, the OpenTelemetry Specification project merged PR #5138, deprecating OpenCensus compatibility requirements in the specification.
This change updates the specification to match where the ecosystem already is: OpenCensus has been archived since July 31, 2023, and the OpenTelemetry shims for OpenCensus have provided a stable migration bridge for more than three years.
This is a deprecation of specification requirements, not an immediate removal of compatibility material and not a requirement to remove existing shim artifacts right away.

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OpenTelemetry

OpenTelemetry has officially deprecated OpenCensus compatibility requirements in its specification, effective June 2026, following the archival of OpenCensus in July 2023. New SDKs and implementations are no longer required to implement OpenCensus compatibility. Existing shims will continue to receive maintenance for at least one year, with the earliest possible specification removal set for June 2027. Users still relying on OpenCensus shims are advised to begin planning migration to native OpenTelemetry APIs and OTLP-based workflows. Language-specific migration resources are available for Go, Java, JavaScript, and Python.

Deprecating OpenCensus compatibility requirements