diff --git a/litellm/integrations/newrelic/newrelic.py b/litellm/integrations/newrelic/newrelic.py
index 93fe09d6010..01b431e6e45 100644
--- a/litellm/integrations/newrelic/newrelic.py
+++ b/litellm/integrations/newrelic/newrelic.py
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ class NewRelicLogger(CustomLogger):
 
             if not trace_id:
                 # Generate a random trace_id for grouping AI monitoring events
-                trace_id = str(uuid.uuid4())
+                trace_id = uuid.uuid4().hex
                 verbose_logger.debug(
                     f"New Relic trace_id not available from distributed tracing headers. "
                     f"Generated trace_id={trace_id} for AI monitoring event grouping."
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/integrations/newrelic/test_newrelic.py b/tests/test_litellm/integrations/newrelic/test_newrelic.py
index 4bac745c7f1..d998855aec8 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/integrations/newrelic/test_newrelic.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/integrations/newrelic/test_newrelic.py
@@ -211,14 +211,14 @@ class TestGetTraceContext:
         kwargs = make_kwargs()
         trace_id, span_id = self.logger._get_trace_context(kwargs)
         assert trace_id is not None
-        assert len(trace_id) == 36  # UUID format
+        assert len(trace_id) == 32  # 32-char lowercase hex, matches W3C traceparent format
 
     def test_generates_uuid_when_traceparent_malformed(self):
         kwargs = make_kwargs(traceparent="not-valid")
         trace_id, span_id = self.logger._get_trace_context(kwargs)
-        # Falls back to a generated UUID
+        # Falls back to a 32-char lowercase hex, matching W3C traceparent format
         assert trace_id is not None
-        assert len(trace_id) == 36
+        assert len(trace_id) == 32
 
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------