diff --git a/api/include/opentelemetry/trace/propagation/http_trace_context.h b/api/include/opentelemetry/trace/propagation/http_trace_context.h
index 49d7e763d3..b39a2d2410 100644
--- a/api/include/opentelemetry/trace/propagation/http_trace_context.h
+++ b/api/include/opentelemetry/trace/propagation/http_trace_context.h
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ class HttpTraceContext : public HTTPTextFormat<T>
     }
   }
 
-  static uint8_t GenerateBuffer(nostd::string_view string, int bytes)
+  static uint8_t[] GenerateBuffer(nostd::string_view string, int bytes)
   {
     const char *str_id = string.begin();
     uint8_t buf[bytes / 2];