diff --git a/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/coders/KvCoder.java b/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/coders/KvCoder.java
index 764aa0bca4cd..1067d74bcfa2 100644
--- a/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/coders/KvCoder.java
+++ b/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/coders/KvCoder.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 import java.io.OutputStream;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.util.common.ElementByteSizeObserver;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.values.KV;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.values.TypeDescriptor;
@@ -52,6 +53,8 @@ public Coder<V> getValueCoder() {
 
   private final Coder<K> keyCoder;
   private final Coder<V> valueCoder;
+  private static final MapCoder<String, String> CONTEXT_CODER =
+      MapCoder.of(StringUtf8Coder.of(), StringUtf8Coder.of());
 
   private KvCoder(Coder<K> keyCoder, Coder<V> valueCoder) {
     this.keyCoder = keyCoder;
@@ -69,6 +72,7 @@ public void encode(KV<K, V> kv, OutputStream outStream, Context context)
     if (kv == null) {
       throw new CoderException("cannot encode a null KV");
     }
+    CONTEXT_CODER.encode(kv.getW3cTraceContext(), outStream);
     keyCoder.encode(kv.getKey(), outStream);
     valueCoder.encode(kv.getValue(), outStream, context);
   }
@@ -80,9 +84,12 @@ public KV<K, V> decode(InputStream inStream) throws IOException, CoderException
 
   @Override
   public KV<K, V> decode(InputStream inStream, Context context) throws IOException, CoderException {
+    Map<String, String> traceContext = CONTEXT_CODER.decode(inStream);
     K key = keyCoder.decode(inStream);
     V value = valueCoder.decode(inStream, context);
-    return KV.of(key, value);
+    KV<K, V> newKv = KV.of(key, value);
+    newKv.getW3cTraceContext().putAll(traceContext);
+    return newKv;
   }
 
   @Override
diff --git a/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/values/KV.java b/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/values/KV.java
index 0c095ade1555..992bbc521e4f 100644
--- a/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/values/KV.java
+++ b/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/values/KV.java
@@ -18,8 +18,12 @@
 package org.apache.beam.sdk.values;
 
 import java.io.Serializable;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Comparator;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Objects;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.transforms.Combine;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.transforms.GroupByKey;
@@ -38,7 +42,7 @@
  * @param <K> the type of the key
  * @param <V> the type of the value
  */
-public class KV<K, V> implements Serializable {
+public class KV<K, V> implements Serializable, Traceable {
   /** Returns a {@link KV} with the given key and value. */
   public static <K, V> KV<K, V> of(K key, V value) {
     return new KV<>(key, value);
@@ -56,10 +60,22 @@ public V getValue() {
     return value;
   }
 
+  @Override
+  public Map<String, String> getW3cTraceContext() {
+    return w3cTraceContext;
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public List<Map<String, String>> getW3cLinkedContext() {
+    return w3cLinkedContext;
+  }
+
   /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
   final K key;
   final V value;
+  final Map<String, String> w3cTraceContext = new HashMap<>();
+  final List<Map<String, String>> w3cLinkedContext = new ArrayList<>();
 
   private KV(K key, V value) {
     this.key = key;
diff --git a/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/values/Traceable.java b/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/values/Traceable.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..fe6acb7f84f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/values/Traceable.java
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.beam.sdk.values;
+
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+public interface Traceable {
+
+  Map<String, String> getW3cTraceContext();
+
+  List<Map<String, String>> getW3cLinkedContext();
+}
diff --git a/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/coders/KvCoderTest.java b/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/coders/KvCoderTest.java
index 436f4c1ae910..5d19775b11f1 100644
--- a/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/coders/KvCoderTest.java
+++ b/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/coders/KvCoderTest.java
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ public void testCoderIsSerializableWithWellKnownCoderType() throws Exception {
    * org.apache.beam.sdk.coders.PrintBase64Encodings}.
    */
   private static final List<String> TEST_ENCODINGS =
-      Arrays.asList("AP____8P", "BWhlbGxvAA", "B2dvb2RieWX_____Bw");
+      Arrays.asList("AAAAAAD_____Dw", "AAAAAAVoZWxsbwA", "AAAAAAdnb29kYnll_____wc");
 
   @Test
   public void testWireFormatEncode() throws Exception {