diff --git a/src/OpenTelemetry.Exporter.OpenTelemetryProtocol/Implementation/ExportClient/OtlpHttpTraceExportClient.cs b/src/OpenTelemetry.Exporter.OpenTelemetryProtocol/Implementation/ExportClient/OtlpHttpTraceExportClient.cs
index 9bb7e04fb27..18f3957e9c2 100644
--- a/src/OpenTelemetry.Exporter.OpenTelemetryProtocol/Implementation/ExportClient/OtlpHttpTraceExportClient.cs
+++ b/src/OpenTelemetry.Exporter.OpenTelemetryProtocol/Implementation/ExportClient/OtlpHttpTraceExportClient.cs
@@ -16,8 +16,14 @@
 
 using System;
 using System.IO;
+using System.Net;
 using System.Net.Http;
 using System.Net.Http.Headers;
+using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
+#if NET5_0_OR_GREATER
+using System.Threading;
+#endif
+using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using Google.Protobuf;
 using OtlpCollector = Opentelemetry.Proto.Collector.Trace.V1;
 
@@ -43,18 +49,48 @@ protected override HttpRequestMessage CreateHttpRequest(OtlpCollector.ExportTrac
                 request.Headers.Add(header.Key, header.Value);
             }
 
-            var content = Array.Empty<byte>();
-            using (var stream = new MemoryStream())
+            request.Content = new ExportRequestContent(exportRequest);
+
+            return request;
+        }
+
+        internal sealed class ExportRequestContent : HttpContent
+        {
+            private static readonly MediaTypeHeaderValue ProtobufMediaTypeHeader = new MediaTypeHeaderValue(MediaContentType);
+
+            private readonly OtlpCollector.ExportTraceServiceRequest exportRequest;
+
+            public ExportRequestContent(OtlpCollector.ExportTraceServiceRequest exportRequest)
+            {
+                this.exportRequest = exportRequest;
+                this.Headers.ContentType = ProtobufMediaTypeHeader;
+            }
+
+#if NET5_0_OR_GREATER
+            protected override void SerializeToStream(Stream stream, TransportContext context, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
             {
-                exportRequest.WriteTo(stream);
-                content = stream.ToArray();
+                this.SerializeToStreamInternal(stream);
             }
+#endif
 
-            var binaryContent = new ByteArrayContent(content);
-            binaryContent.Headers.ContentType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue(MediaContentType);
-            request.Content = binaryContent;
+            protected override Task SerializeToStreamAsync(Stream stream, TransportContext context)
+            {
+                this.SerializeToStreamInternal(stream);
+                return Task.CompletedTask;
+            }
 
-            return request;
+            protected override bool TryComputeLength(out long length)
+            {
+                // We can't know the length of the content being pushed to the output stream.
+                length = -1;
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            [MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.AggressiveInlining)]
+            private void SerializeToStreamInternal(Stream stream)
+            {
+                this.exportRequest.WriteTo(stream);
+            }
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/test/Benchmarks/Exporter/OtlpExporterBenchmarks.cs b/test/Benchmarks/Exporter/OtlpGrpcExporterBenchmarks.cs
similarity index 95%
rename from test/Benchmarks/Exporter/OtlpExporterBenchmarks.cs
rename to test/Benchmarks/Exporter/OtlpGrpcExporterBenchmarks.cs
index e70459c5894..2fb7678432f 100644
--- a/test/Benchmarks/Exporter/OtlpExporterBenchmarks.cs
+++ b/test/Benchmarks/Exporter/OtlpGrpcExporterBenchmarks.cs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// <copyright file="OtlpExporterBenchmarks.cs" company="OpenTelemetry Authors">
+// <copyright file="OtlpGrpcExporterBenchmarks.cs" company="OpenTelemetry Authors">
 // Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 namespace Benchmarks.Exporter
 {
     [MemoryDiagnoser]
-    public class OtlpExporterBenchmarks
+    public class OtlpGrpcExporterBenchmarks
     {
         private OtlpTraceExporter exporter;
         private Activity activity;
diff --git a/test/Benchmarks/Exporter/OtlpHttpExporterBenchmarks.cs b/test/Benchmarks/Exporter/OtlpHttpExporterBenchmarks.cs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..de4477f5b52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/Benchmarks/Exporter/OtlpHttpExporterBenchmarks.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+// <copyright file="OtlpHttpExporterBenchmarks.cs" company="OpenTelemetry Authors">
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+// </copyright>
+
+using System;
+using System.Diagnostics;
+using System.IO;
+using BenchmarkDotNet.Attributes;
+using Benchmarks.Helper;
+using OpenTelemetry;
+using OpenTelemetry.Exporter;
+using OpenTelemetry.Exporter.OpenTelemetryProtocol.Implementation.ExportClient;
+using OpenTelemetry.Internal;
+using OpenTelemetry.Tests;
+
+namespace Benchmarks.Exporter
+{
+    [MemoryDiagnoser]
+    public class OtlpHttpExporterBenchmarks
+    {
+        private readonly byte[] buffer = new byte[1024 * 1024];
+        private IDisposable server;
+        private string serverHost;
+        private int serverPort;
+        private OtlpTraceExporter exporter;
+        private Activity activity;
+        private CircularBuffer<Activity> activityBatch;
+
+        [Params(1, 10, 100)]
+        public int NumberOfBatches { get; set; }
+
+        [Params(10000)]
+        public int NumberOfSpans { get; set; }
+
+        [GlobalSetup]
+        public void GlobalSetup()
+        {
+            this.server = TestHttpServer.RunServer(
+                (ctx) =>
+                {
+                    using (Stream receiveStream = ctx.Request.InputStream)
+                    {
+                        while (true)
+                        {
+                            if (receiveStream.Read(this.buffer, 0, this.buffer.Length) == 0)
+                            {
+                                break;
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+
+                    ctx.Response.StatusCode = 200;
+                    ctx.Response.OutputStream.Close();
+                },
+                out this.serverHost,
+                out this.serverPort);
+
+            var options = new OtlpExporterOptions
+            {
+                Endpoint = new Uri($"http://{this.serverHost}:{this.serverPort}"),
+            };
+            this.exporter = new OtlpTraceExporter(
+                options,
+                new OtlpHttpTraceExportClient(options));
+
+            this.activity = ActivityHelper.CreateTestActivity();
+            this.activityBatch = new CircularBuffer<Activity>(this.NumberOfSpans);
+        }
+
+        [GlobalCleanup]
+        public void GlobalCleanup()
+        {
+            this.exporter.Shutdown();
+            this.exporter.Dispose();
+            this.server.Dispose();
+        }
+
+        [Benchmark]
+        public void OtlpExporter_Batching()
+        {
+            for (int i = 0; i < this.NumberOfBatches; i++)
+            {
+                for (int c = 0; c < this.NumberOfSpans; c++)
+                {
+                    this.activityBatch.Add(this.activity);
+                }
+
+                this.exporter.Export(new Batch<Activity>(this.activityBatch, this.NumberOfSpans));
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/test/OpenTelemetry.Exporter.OpenTelemetryProtocol.Tests/Implementation/ExportClient/OtlpHttpTraceExportClientTests.cs b/test/OpenTelemetry.Exporter.OpenTelemetryProtocol.Tests/Implementation/ExportClient/OtlpHttpTraceExportClientTests.cs
index 8809074b340..604bc9eee91 100644
--- a/test/OpenTelemetry.Exporter.OpenTelemetryProtocol.Tests/Implementation/ExportClient/OtlpHttpTraceExportClientTests.cs
+++ b/test/OpenTelemetry.Exporter.OpenTelemetryProtocol.Tests/Implementation/ExportClient/OtlpHttpTraceExportClientTests.cs
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ void RunTest(Batch<Activity> batch)
                 Assert.Contains(httpRequest.Headers, h => h.Key == header2.Name && h.Value.First() == header2.Value);
 
                 Assert.NotNull(httpRequest.Content);
-                Assert.IsType<ByteArrayContent>(httpRequest.Content);
+                Assert.IsType<OtlpHttpTraceExportClient.ExportRequestContent>(httpRequest.Content);
                 Assert.Contains(httpRequest.Content.Headers, h => h.Key == "Content-Type" && h.Value.First() == OtlpHttpTraceExportClient.MediaContentType);
 
                 var exportTraceRequest = OtlpCollector.ExportTraceServiceRequest.Parser.ParseFrom(httpRequestContent);