diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3891d7ba275..7f48318f753 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.htm
 
 ### Changed
 
+- The `SpanModels` function is now exported from the `go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/zipkin` package to convert OpenTelemetry spans into Zipkin model spans. (#2027)
+
 ### Deprecated
 
 ### Removed
diff --git a/exporters/zipkin/model.go b/exporters/zipkin/model.go
index 55c991fb3ff..93f5e64ada3 100644
--- a/exporters/zipkin/model.go
+++ b/exporters/zipkin/model.go
@@ -51,7 +51,9 @@ func init() {
 	}
 }
 
-func toZipkinSpanModels(batch []tracesdk.ReadOnlySpan) []zkmodel.SpanModel {
+// SpanModels converts OpenTelemetry spans into Zipkin model spans.
+// This is used for exporting to Zipkin compatible tracing services.
+func SpanModels(batch []tracesdk.ReadOnlySpan) []zkmodel.SpanModel {
 	models := make([]zkmodel.SpanModel, 0, len(batch))
 	for _, data := range batch {
 		models = append(models, toZipkinSpanModel(data))
diff --git a/exporters/zipkin/model_test.go b/exporters/zipkin/model_test.go
index 970040a0a1d..7ee136951a7 100644
--- a/exporters/zipkin/model_test.go
+++ b/exporters/zipkin/model_test.go
@@ -715,7 +715,7 @@ func TestModelConversion(t *testing.T) {
 			Tags: nil, // should be omitted
 		},
 	}
-	gottenOutputBatch := toZipkinSpanModels(inputBatch)
+	gottenOutputBatch := SpanModels(inputBatch)
 	require.Equal(t, expectedOutputBatch, gottenOutputBatch)
 }
 
diff --git a/exporters/zipkin/zipkin.go b/exporters/zipkin/zipkin.go
index 5d09a47355a..d9fb1604fda 100644
--- a/exporters/zipkin/zipkin.go
+++ b/exporters/zipkin/zipkin.go
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ func (e *Exporter) ExportSpans(ctx context.Context, spans []sdktrace.ReadOnlySpa
 		e.logf("no spans to export")
 		return nil
 	}
-	models := toZipkinSpanModels(spans)
+	models := SpanModels(spans)
 	body, err := json.Marshal(models)
 	if err != nil {
 		return e.errf("failed to serialize zipkin models to JSON: %v", err)