--- title: How to Convert Prometheus Histograms to OTLP with the... description: A step-by-step guide walks through converting Prometheus histogram metrics into the OpenTelemetry OTLP format using the OpenTelemetry Collector. Using a sample... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-convert-prometheus-histograms-to-otlp-with-the-opentelemetry-collector-eeyizafgb twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: How to Convert Prometheus Histograms to OTLP with the OpenTelemetry Collector | daily.dev og:description: A step-by-step guide walks through converting Prometheus histogram metrics into the OpenTelemetry OTLP format using the OpenTelemetry Collector. Using a sample... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-convert-prometheus-histograms-to-otlp-with-the-opentelemetry-collector-eeyizafgb og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/EeyIZaFgb.png og:image:alt: How to Convert Prometheus Histograms to OTLP with the OpenTelemetry Collector og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How to Convert Prometheus Histograms to OTLP with the OpenTelemetry Collector **[freeCodeCamp](https://daily.dev/sources/freecodecamp)** · 9 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A step-by-step guide walks through converting Prometheus histogram metrics into the OpenTelemetry OTLP format using the OpenTelemetry Collector. Using a sample FastAPI payment application exposing a payment_transaction_duration_seconds histogram, it covers configuring the Prometheus receiver to scrape metrics, how the Collector maps Prometheus _bucket/_sum/_count series into the OpenTelemetry Histogram data model, setting up the OTLP exporter with TLS, wiring the full pipeline, and verifying delivery to SigNoz Cloud with troubleshooting tips. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How does the OpenTelemetry Collector convert Prometheus histogram metrics into OTLP format? The Prometheus receiver scrapes the _bucket, _sum, and _count time series that Prometheus exposes for a histogram metric and maps them into a single OpenTelemetry Histogram data model containing the count, sum, explicit bucket boundaries, and bucket counts. This unified structure is then exported to an OTLP-compatible backend via the OTLP exporter, preserving the distribution data needed to calculate percentiles and analyze latency. _See how daily.dev surfaces practical guides for teams standardizing metrics pipelines on OTLP._ ### What Prometheus receiver configuration is needed in the OpenTelemetry Collector to scrape a /metrics endpoint? A minimal Prometheus receiver config sets scrape_configs with a job_name, scrape_interval (such as 15s), and static_configs listing the target host and port, for example targets: ["payment-api:8080"]. The scrape_interval controls how often the endpoint is polled, and job_name groups the resulting metrics logically once they reach the backend. _Developers wiring up Collector pipelines can find configuration walkthroughs like this via daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [How Prometheus Exporters Work With OpenTelemetry](https://daily.dev/posts/how-prometheus-exporters-work-with-opentelemetry-hxjdcu2qr) · Last9 · 4 upvotes · 0 comments - [Dual-exporting .NET metrics with OTLP and Prometheus](https://daily.dev/posts/dual-exporting-net-metrics-with-otlp-and-prometheus-bnnpqjfa6) · OpenTelemetry · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Prometheus and OpenTelemetry finally play nice](https://daily.dev/posts/prometheus-and-opentelemetry-finally-play-nice-2lupjc8qw) · The New Stack · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [OpenTelemetry: OTel Collectors in Kubernetes and VictoriaMetrics Stack integration](https://daily.dev/posts/opentelemetry-otel-collectors-in-kubernetes-and-victoriametrics-stack-integration-rv0ruemf6) · ITNEXT · 3 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#observability](https://daily.dev/tags/observability), [#opentelemetry](https://daily.dev/tags/opentelemetry), [#prometheus](https://daily.dev/tags/prometheus), [#fastapi](https://daily.dev/tags/fastapi) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-convert-prometheus-histograms-to-otlp-with-the-opentelemetry-collector-eeyizafgb) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"How to Convert Prometheus Histograms to OTLP with the OpenTelemetry Collector","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-convert-prometheus-histograms-to-otlp-with-the-opentelemetry-collector-eeyizafgb","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-convert-prometheus-histograms-to-otlp-with-the-opentelemetry-collector-eeyizafgb"},"datePublished":"2026-08-24T16:57:17.965Z","dateModified":"2026-09-13T20:10:34.453Z","description":"A step-by-step guide walks through converting Prometheus histogram metrics into the OpenTelemetry OTLP format using the OpenTelemetry Collector. 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