diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 332ec653c12..745b248832e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+- Allow bytes as attributes
+  ([#3605](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/3605))
 - Use Attribute rather than boundattribute in logrecord
   ([#3567](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/3567))
 - Fix flush error when no LoggerProvider configured for LoggingHandler
diff --git a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-common/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/proto/common/_internal/__init__.py b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-common/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/proto/common/_internal/__init__.py
index 6593d89fd87..3cc542d3916 100644
--- a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-common/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/proto/common/_internal/__init__.py
+++ b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-common/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/proto/common/_internal/__init__.py
@@ -75,6 +75,8 @@ def _encode_value(value: Any) -> PB2AnyValue:
         return PB2AnyValue(int_value=value)
     if isinstance(value, float):
         return PB2AnyValue(double_value=value)
+    if isinstance(value, bytes):
+        return PB2AnyValue(bytes_value=value)
     if isinstance(value, Sequence):
         return PB2AnyValue(
             array_value=PB2ArrayValue(values=[_encode_value(v) for v in value])
diff --git a/opentelemetry-api/src/opentelemetry/attributes/__init__.py b/opentelemetry-api/src/opentelemetry/attributes/__init__.py
index a3c3c31197b..4142b0fd026 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-api/src/opentelemetry/attributes/__init__.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-api/src/opentelemetry/attributes/__init__.py
@@ -21,8 +21,6 @@
 
 from opentelemetry.util import types
 
-# bytes are accepted as a user supplied value for attributes but
-# decoded to strings internally.
 _VALID_ATTR_VALUE_TYPES = (bool, str, bytes, int, float)
 
 
@@ -44,7 +42,6 @@ def _clean_attribute(
 
     An attribute needs cleansing if:
         - Its length is greater than the maximum allowed length.
-        - It needs to be encoded/decoded e.g, bytes to strings.
     """
 
     if not (key and isinstance(key, str)):
@@ -114,13 +111,6 @@ def _clean_attribute_value(
     if value is None:
         return None
 
-    if isinstance(value, bytes):
-        try:
-            value = value.decode()
-        except UnicodeDecodeError:
-            _logger.warning("Byte attribute could not be decoded.")
-            return None
-
     if limit is not None and isinstance(value, str):
         value = value[:limit]
     return value
diff --git a/opentelemetry-api/tests/attributes/test_attributes.py b/opentelemetry-api/tests/attributes/test_attributes.py
index ad2f741fb1f..ece56662afb 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-api/tests/attributes/test_attributes.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-api/tests/attributes/test_attributes.py
@@ -78,10 +78,10 @@ def test_sequence_attr_decode(self):
         ]
         expected = [
             None,
-            "Content-Disposition",
-            "Content-Type",
-            None,
-            "Keep-Alive",
+            b"Content-Disposition",
+            b"Content-Type",
+            b"\x81",
+            b"Keep-Alive",
         ]
         self.assertEqual(
             _clean_attribute("headers", seq, None), tuple(expected)
diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/resources/test_resources.py b/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/resources/test_resources.py
index da3f9469617..854898c7468 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/resources/test_resources.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/resources/test_resources.py
@@ -238,9 +238,6 @@ def test_invalid_resource_attribute_values(self):
                 {
                     SERVICE_NAME: "test",
                     "non-primitive-data-type": {},
-                    "invalid-byte-type-attribute": (
-                        b"\xd8\xe1\xb7\xeb\xa8\xe5 \xd2\xb7\xe1"
-                    ),
                     "": "empty-key-value",
                     None: "null-key-value",
                     "another-non-primitive": uuid.uuid4(),
diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/trace/test_trace.py b/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/trace/test_trace.py
index 4150d60d104..3f0323ff03a 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/trace/test_trace.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/trace/test_trace.py
@@ -736,19 +736,12 @@ def test_invalid_attribute_values(self):
 
     def test_byte_type_attribute_value(self):
         with self.tracer.start_as_current_span("root") as root:
-            with self.assertLogs(level=WARNING):
-                root.set_attribute(
-                    "invalid-byte-type-attribute",
-                    b"\xd8\xe1\xb7\xeb\xa8\xe5 \xd2\xb7\xe1",
-                )
-                self.assertFalse(
-                    "invalid-byte-type-attribute" in root.attributes
-                )
-
-            root.set_attribute("valid-byte-type-attribute", b"valid byte")
-            self.assertTrue(
-                isinstance(root.attributes["valid-byte-type-attribute"], str)
-            )
+            for key, value in (
+                ("arbitrary", b"\xd8\xe1\xb7\xeb\xa8\xe5 \xd2\xb7\xe1"),
+                ("encodable", b"valid byte"),
+            ):
+                root.set_attribute(key, b"valid byte")
+                self.assertTrue(isinstance(root.attributes[key], bytes))
 
     def test_sampling_attributes(self):
         sampling_attributes = {