OpenTelemetry is an open source observability framework that provides vendor-neutral APIs, SDKs, and data formats for collecting metrics, traces, and logs from applications and infrastructure.
OpenTelemetry defines instrumentation libraries for many languages and frameworks. It exports telemetry in a vendor-neutral format, usually through the OTLP protocol, so teams can switch backends without rewriting instrumentation.
That neutrality removes the instrumentation lock-in that slowed observability adoption. Teams can instrument once and send data to any compatible backend instead of choosing a vendor and rewriting later. OpenTelemetry is becoming the default instrumentation layer because it is backed by major cloud providers and observability vendors.
Think of it like this. Think of a universal charging standard for observability. Instrument your application once, and the same connector works with multiple telemetry providers.
Libraries automatically or manually create spans, metrics, and log records. Context propagation links telemetry across services. Exporters send data to collectors or directly to backends using OTLP. Resource attributes identify the service, environment, and deployment that produced the telemetry.
"OpenTelemetry is a vendor." It is a specification and collection of libraries. "Instrumentation alone is observability." Storage, querying, and alerting still require a backend. "OTLP is optional." OTLP is the interoperability path; proprietary exporters defeat the main advantage.
Vendor-neutral instrumentation and broad ecosystem support, but requires backend compatibility and sampling strategy. Strong default choice for new observability stacks; migration paths exist for existing proprietary instrumentation.