diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index c32557b888c..9c3e7fab311 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.htm
   exact upper-inclusive boundary support following the [corresponding
   specification change](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/pull/2633). (#2982)
 - Attempting to start a span with a nil `context` will no longer cause a panic. (#3110)
+- Ensure valid UTF-8 when truncating over-length attribute values. (#3156)
 
 ## [1.9.0/0.0.3] - 2022-08-01
 
diff --git a/sdk/trace/span.go b/sdk/trace/span.go
index 14d0aabfe69..449cf6c2552 100644
--- a/sdk/trace/span.go
+++ b/sdk/trace/span.go
@@ -20,8 +20,10 @@ import (
 	"reflect"
 	"runtime"
 	rt "runtime/trace"
+	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
+	"unicode/utf8"
 
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/attribute"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/codes"
@@ -294,7 +296,7 @@ func (s *recordingSpan) addOverCapAttrs(limit int, attrs []attribute.KeyValue) {
 
 // truncateAttr returns a truncated version of attr. Only string and string
 // slice attribute values are truncated. String values are truncated to at
-// most a length of limit. Each string slice value is truncated in this fasion
+// most a length of limit. Each string slice value is truncated in this fashion
 // (the slice length itself is unaffected).
 //
 // No truncation is perfromed for a negative limit.
@@ -305,7 +307,7 @@ func truncateAttr(limit int, attr attribute.KeyValue) attribute.KeyValue {
 	switch attr.Value.Type() {
 	case attribute.STRING:
 		if v := attr.Value.AsString(); len(v) > limit {
-			return attr.Key.String(v[:limit])
+			return attr.Key.String(safeTruncate(v, limit))
 		}
 	case attribute.STRINGSLICE:
 		// Do no mutate the original, make a copy.
@@ -324,7 +326,7 @@ func truncateAttr(limit int, attr attribute.KeyValue) attribute.KeyValue {
 		v := trucated.Value.AsStringSlice()
 		for i := range v {
 			if len(v[i]) > limit {
-				v[i] = v[i][:limit]
+				v[i] = safeTruncate(v[i], limit)
 			}
 		}
 		return trucated
@@ -332,6 +334,34 @@ func truncateAttr(limit int, attr attribute.KeyValue) attribute.KeyValue {
 	return attr
 }
 
+// safeTruncate truncates the string and guarantees valid UTF-8 is returned.
+func safeTruncate(input string, limit int) string {
+	if trunc, ok := safeTruncateValidUTF8(input, limit); ok {
+		return trunc
+	}
+	trunc, _ := safeTruncateValidUTF8(strings.ToValidUTF8(input, ""), limit)
+	return trunc
+}
+
+// safeTruncateValidUTF8 returns a copy of the input string safely truncated to
+// limit. The truncation is ensured to occur at the bounds of complete UTF-8
+// characters. If invalid encoding of UTF-8 is encountered, input is returned
+// with false, otherwise, the truncated input will be returned with true.
+func safeTruncateValidUTF8(input string, limit int) (string, bool) {
+	for cnt := 0; cnt <= limit; {
+		r, size := utf8.DecodeRuneInString(input[cnt:])
+		if r == utf8.RuneError {
+			return input, false
+		}
+
+		if cnt+size > limit {
+			return input[:cnt], true
+		}
+		cnt += size
+	}
+	return input, true
+}
+
 // End ends the span. This method does nothing if the span is already ended or
 // is not being recorded.
 //
diff --git a/sdk/trace/span_limits_test.go b/sdk/trace/span_limits_test.go
index 91199516c56..5e88770ae0f 100644
--- a/sdk/trace/span_limits_test.go
+++ b/sdk/trace/span_limits_test.go
@@ -168,6 +168,7 @@ func testSpanLimits(t *testing.T, limits SpanLimits) ReadOnlySpan {
 	span.SetAttributes(
 		attribute.String("string", "abc"),
 		attribute.StringSlice("stringSlice", []string{"abc", "def"}),
+		attribute.String("euro", "€"), // this is a 3-byte rune
 	)
 	span.AddEvent("event 1", trace.WithAttributes(a...))
 	span.AddEvent("event 2", trace.WithAttributes(a...))
@@ -186,24 +187,27 @@ func TestSpanLimits(t *testing.T) {
 		attrs := testSpanLimits(t, limits).Attributes()
 		assert.Contains(t, attrs, attribute.String("string", "abc"))
 		assert.Contains(t, attrs, attribute.StringSlice("stringSlice", []string{"abc", "def"}))
+		assert.Contains(t, attrs, attribute.String("euro", "€"))
 
 		limits.AttributeValueLengthLimit = 2
 		attrs = testSpanLimits(t, limits).Attributes()
 		// Ensure string and string slice attributes are truncated.
 		assert.Contains(t, attrs, attribute.String("string", "ab"))
 		assert.Contains(t, attrs, attribute.StringSlice("stringSlice", []string{"ab", "de"}))
+		assert.Contains(t, attrs, attribute.String("euro", ""))
 
 		limits.AttributeValueLengthLimit = 0
 		attrs = testSpanLimits(t, limits).Attributes()
 		assert.Contains(t, attrs, attribute.String("string", ""))
 		assert.Contains(t, attrs, attribute.StringSlice("stringSlice", []string{"", ""}))
+		assert.Contains(t, attrs, attribute.String("euro", ""))
 	})
 
 	t.Run("AttributeCountLimit", func(t *testing.T) {
 		limits := NewSpanLimits()
 		// Unlimited.
 		limits.AttributeCountLimit = -1
-		assert.Len(t, testSpanLimits(t, limits).Attributes(), 2)
+		assert.Len(t, testSpanLimits(t, limits).Attributes(), 3)
 
 		limits.AttributeCountLimit = 1
 		assert.Len(t, testSpanLimits(t, limits).Attributes(), 1)
diff --git a/sdk/trace/span_test.go b/sdk/trace/span_test.go
index 2c7992e457e..2441defae71 100644
--- a/sdk/trace/span_test.go
+++ b/sdk/trace/span_test.go
@@ -134,6 +134,30 @@ func TestTruncateAttr(t *testing.T) {
 			attr:  strSliceAttr,
 			want:  strSliceAttr,
 		},
+		{
+			// This tests the ordinary safeTruncate().
+			limit: 10,
+			attr:  attribute.String(key, "€€€€"), // 3 bytes each
+			want:  attribute.String(key, "€€€"),
+		},
+		{
+			// This tests truncation with an invalid UTF-8 input.
+			//
+			// Note that after removing the invalid rune,
+			// the string is over length and still has to
+			// be truncated on a code point boundary.
+			limit: 10,
+			attr:  attribute.String(key, "€"[0:2]+"hello€€"), // corrupted first rune, then over limit
+			want:  attribute.String(key, "hello€"),
+		},
+		{
+			// This tests the fallback to invalidTruncate()
+			// where after validation the string does not require
+			// truncation.
+			limit: 6,
+			attr:  attribute.String(key, "€"[0:2]+"hello"), // corrupted first rune, then not over limit
+			want:  attribute.String(key, "hello"),
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, test := range tests {