Kafka Exception UnsupportedForMessageFormatException
org.apache.kafka.common.errors.UnsupportedForMessageFormatException
Non-retriable
Producer
The message format version does not support the requested function. For example, if idempotence is requested and the topic is using a message format older than 0.11.0.0, then this error will be returned.
Reviewed 2026-10-27 · 4.4.0 · source-reviewed. Source
Common Causes
- An operation requires a record format unsupported by the target data or older broker. The setting and upgrade path depend on the broker generation.
Solutions
- For Kafka 4.x, do not configure removed log.message.format.version, topic message.format.version or inter.broker.protocol.version options. Use the version-specific upgrade guide and feature-level tooling.
- For older clusters, verify the operation’s format requirement and follow that release’s documented broker/record-format upgrade sequence. Do not set every version knob to the client version.
Example Stack Trace
org.apache.kafka.common.errors.UnsupportedForMessageFormatException: The message format version on the broker does not support the request.Diagnostic Commands
# Check topic message format version
kafka-configs.sh --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --entity-type topics --entity-name <topic> --describe | grep message.format
# Check broker protocol version settings
kafka-configs.sh --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --entity-type brokers --entity-default --describe | grep -E 'log.message.format|inter.broker.protocol'Related
Protocol error: UNSUPPORTED_FOR_MESSAGE_FORMAT (code 43)
Related Producer exceptions: BufferExhaustedException · InvalidProducerEpochException · OutOfOrderSequenceException · RecordBatchTooLargeException · RecordTooLargeException · TransactionAbortedException · UnknownProducerIdException
Hitting
UnsupportedForMessageFormatException in production? Conduktor Console gives you real-time visibility into clients, consumer groups, and broker health. Browse every Kafka exception or protocol error code.