diff --git a/lib/auth/grpcserver.go b/lib/auth/grpcserver.go
index aa556c808499e..82eb9c265c9d4 100644
--- a/lib/auth/grpcserver.go
+++ b/lib/auth/grpcserver.go
@@ -337,7 +337,22 @@ func (g *GRPCServer) CreateAuditStream(stream authpb.AuthService_CreateAuditStre
 			setter := &events.NoOpPreparer{}
 			start := time.Now()
 			preparedEvent, _ := setter.PrepareSessionEvent(event)
-			err = eventStream.RecordEvent(stream.Context(), preparedEvent)
+			var errors []error
+			errors = append(errors, eventStream.RecordEvent(stream.Context(), preparedEvent))
+
+			// v13 clients expect this request to also emit the event, so emit here
+			// just for them.
+			switch event.GetType() {
+			// Don't emit really verbose events.
+			case events.ResizeEvent, events.SessionDiskEvent, events.SessionPrintEvent, events.AppSessionRequestEvent, "":
+			default:
+				clientVersion, versionExists := metadata.ClientVersionFromContext(stream.Context())
+				if versionExists && semver.New(clientVersion).Major <= 13 {
+					errors = append(errors, auth.EmitAuditEvent(stream.Context(), event))
+				}
+			}
+
+			err = trace.NewAggregate(errors...)
 			if err != nil {
 				switch {
 				case events.IsPermanentEmitError(err):
@@ -348,7 +363,7 @@ func (g *GRPCServer) CreateAuditStream(stream authpb.AuthService_CreateAuditStre
 					return trace.Wrap(err)
 				}
 			}
-			event.Size()
+
 			processed += int64(event.Size())
 			seconds := time.Since(streamStart) / time.Second
 			counter++