Deprecate the zipkin exporter

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -36,6 +36,11 @@ This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.htm
 - `WithHostID` detector in `go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/resource` to use full path for `ioreg` command on Darwin (macOS). (#7818)
 - Fix missing `request.GetBody` in `go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlptrace/otlptracehttp` to correctly handle HTTP2 GOAWAY frame. (#7794)
 
+### Deprecated
+
+- Deprecate `go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/zipkin`.
+  For more information, see the [OTel blog post deprecating the Zipkin exporter](https://opentelemetry.io/blog/2025/deprecating-zipkin-exporters/). (#7670)
+
 <!-- Released section -->
 <!-- Don't change this section unless doing release -->
 

exporters/zipkin/doc.go

@@ -2,4 +2,9 @@
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
 // Package zipkin contains an OpenTelemetry tracing exporter for Zipkin.
+//
+// Deprecated: The zipkin exporter is deprecated and will be removed in early 2027.
+// See the blog post "[Deprecating Zipkin Exporter]".
+//
+// [Deprecating Zipkin Exporter]: https://opentelemetry.io/blog/2025/deprecating-zipkin-exporters/
 package zipkin // import "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/zipkin"

exporters/zipkin/go.mod

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+// Deprecated: The zipkin exporter is deprecated and will be removed in early 2027.
+// See the blog post "Deprecating Zipkin Exporter": https://opentelemetry.io/blog/2025/deprecating-zipkin-exporters/
 module go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/zipkin
 
 go 1.24.0