diff --git a/.changelog/5473.fixed b/.changelog/5473.fixed
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..82e490fce6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/5473.fixed
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+`opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http`: retry exports on HTTP 429 (Too Many Requests) responses
diff --git a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/proto/http/_common/__init__.py b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/proto/http/_common/__init__.py
index 46db16dd86..63d22e8f38 100644
--- a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/proto/http/_common/__init__.py
+++ b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/proto/http/_common/__init__.py
@@ -26,6 +26,12 @@ class RequestPayloadTooLargeError(Exception):
 def _is_retryable(resp: requests.Response) -> bool:
     if resp.status_code == 408:
         return True
+    # 429 (Too Many Requests) is listed as a retryable status code by the OTLP
+    # specification, so a throttled export should be retried with backoff rather
+    # than dropped. See
+    # https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/blob/main/specification/protocol/otlp.md#failures-1
+    if resp.status_code == 429:
+        return True
     if resp.status_code >= 500 and resp.status_code <= 599:
         return True
     return False
diff --git a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/tests/metrics/test_otlp_metrics_exporter.py b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/tests/metrics/test_otlp_metrics_exporter.py
index 9ead610069..811f7eab0a 100644
--- a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/tests/metrics/test_otlp_metrics_exporter.py
+++ b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/tests/metrics/test_otlp_metrics_exporter.py
@@ -1427,6 +1427,24 @@ def test_preferred_aggregation_override(self):
             exporter._preferred_aggregation[Histogram], histogram_aggregation
         )
 
+    @patch.object(Session, "post")
+    def test_retryable_status_code_429(self, mock_post):
+        # HTTP 429 (Too Many Requests) is retryable per the OTLP spec, so the
+        # exporter should back off and retry instead of dropping the batch.
+        exporter = OTLPMetricExporter(timeout=1.5)
+
+        resp = Response()
+        resp.status_code = 429
+        resp.reason = "Too Many Requests"
+        mock_post.return_value = resp
+        with self.assertLogs(level=WARNING):
+            self.assertEqual(
+                exporter.export(self.metrics["sum_int"]),
+                MetricExportResult.FAILURE,
+            )
+        # More than one call proves the 429 response was retried.
+        self.assertGreater(mock_post.call_count, 1)
+
     @patch.dict(
         "os.environ", {OTEL_PYTHON_SDK_INTERNAL_METRICS_ENABLED: "true"}
     )
diff --git a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/tests/test_common.py b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/tests/test_common.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..aa6b5d1760
--- /dev/null
+++ b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/tests/test_common.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+# Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+import unittest
+
+import requests
+
+from opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.http._common import _is_retryable
+
+
+class TestIsRetryable(unittest.TestCase):
+    @staticmethod
+    def _response(status_code: int) -> requests.Response:
+        resp = requests.Response()
+        resp.status_code = status_code
+        return resp
+
+    def test_retryable_status_codes(self):
+        # 408 (Request Timeout), 429 (Too Many Requests) and any 5xx are
+        # retryable per the OTLP specification.
+        for status_code in (408, 429, 500, 502, 503, 504, 599):
+            with self.subTest(status_code=status_code):
+                self.assertTrue(_is_retryable(self._response(status_code)))
+
+    def test_non_retryable_status_codes(self):
+        for status_code in (200, 400, 401, 403, 404, 409):
+            with self.subTest(status_code=status_code):
+                self.assertFalse(_is_retryable(self._response(status_code)))
diff --git a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/tests/test_proto_log_exporter.py b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/tests/test_proto_log_exporter.py
index 3663b0eb9b..81d1807b30 100644
--- a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/tests/test_proto_log_exporter.py
+++ b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/tests/test_proto_log_exporter.py
@@ -457,6 +457,24 @@ def test_2xx_status_code(self, mock_otlp_metric_exporter):
             LogRecordExportResult.SUCCESS,
         )
 
+    @patch.object(Session, "post")
+    def test_retryable_status_code_429(self, mock_post):
+        # HTTP 429 (Too Many Requests) is retryable per the OTLP spec, so the
+        # exporter should back off and retry instead of dropping the batch.
+        exporter = OTLPLogExporter(timeout=1.5)
+
+        resp = Response()
+        resp.status_code = 429
+        resp.reason = "Too Many Requests"
+        mock_post.return_value = resp
+        with self.assertLogs(level=WARNING):
+            self.assertEqual(
+                exporter.export(self._get_sdk_log_data()),
+                LogRecordExportResult.FAILURE,
+            )
+        # More than one call proves the 429 response was retried.
+        self.assertGreater(mock_post.call_count, 1)
+
     @patch.dict(
         "os.environ", {OTEL_PYTHON_SDK_INTERNAL_METRICS_ENABLED: " true "}
     )
diff --git a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/tests/test_proto_span_exporter.py b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/tests/test_proto_span_exporter.py
index fa8b5fc1f4..e07339e9f3 100644
--- a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/tests/test_proto_span_exporter.py
+++ b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/tests/test_proto_span_exporter.py
@@ -313,6 +313,24 @@ def test_exporter_metrics_disabled_by_default(self, _mock_export):
 
         self.assertIsNone(self.metric_reader.get_metrics_data())
 
+    @patch.object(Session, "post")
+    def test_retryable_status_code_429(self, mock_post):
+        # HTTP 429 (Too Many Requests) is retryable per the OTLP spec, so the
+        # exporter should back off and retry instead of dropping the batch.
+        exporter = OTLPSpanExporter(timeout=1.5)
+
+        resp = Response()
+        resp.status_code = 429
+        resp.reason = "Too Many Requests"
+        mock_post.return_value = resp
+        with self.assertLogs(level=WARNING):
+            self.assertEqual(
+                exporter.export([BASIC_SPAN]),
+                SpanExportResult.FAILURE,
+            )
+        # More than one call proves the 429 response was retried.
+        self.assertGreater(mock_post.call_count, 1)
+
     @patch.dict(
         "os.environ", {OTEL_PYTHON_SDK_INTERNAL_METRICS_ENABLED: " true "}
     )