diff --git a/ddtrace/encoding.py b/ddtrace/encoding.py
index 2cb00f59ae74..991adc2be5b2 100644
--- a/ddtrace/encoding.py
+++ b/ddtrace/encoding.py
@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
 import json
 import struct
 
-import msgpack
+try:
+    import msgpack
+except ImportError:
+    pass
 
 from .internal.logger import get_logger
-from .internal._encoding import TraceMsgPackEncoder
+from .internal._encoding import TraceMsgpackEncoder
 
 
 log = get_logger(__name__)
@@ -144,4 +147,4 @@ def join_encoded(objs):
             return struct.pack('>BI', 0xdd, count) + buf
 
 
-Encoder = TraceMsgPackEncoder
+Encoder = TraceMsgpackEncoder
diff --git a/ddtrace/internal/_encoding.pyx b/ddtrace/internal/_encoding.pyx
index 8f0817ec80b8..6078f5d4955f 100644
--- a/ddtrace/internal/_encoding.pyx
+++ b/ddtrace/internal/_encoding.pyx
@@ -328,9 +328,15 @@ cdef class Packer(object):
         return buff_to_buff(self.pk.buf, self.pk.length)
 
 
-cdef class TraceMsgPackEncoder(object):
+cdef class TraceMsgpackEncoder(object):
     content_type = "application/msgpack"
 
+    cpdef decode(self, data):
+        import msgpack
+        if msgpack.version[:2] < (0, 6):
+            return msgpack.unpackb(data)
+        return msgpack.unpackb(data, raw=True)
+
     cpdef encode_trace(self, trace):
         return Packer().pack(trace)
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 52158019bb3e..0a595f4a09ff 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -115,11 +115,9 @@ def get_exts_for(name):
         python_requires=">=2.7, !=3.0.*, !=3.1.*, !=3.2.*, !=3.3.*, !=3.4.*",
         # enum34 is an enum backport for earlier versions of python
         # funcsigs backport required for vendored debtcollector
-        # encoding using msgpack
         install_requires=[
             "enum34; python_version<'3.4'",
             "funcsigs>=1.0.0; python_version=='2.7'",
-            "msgpack>=0.5.0",
             "protobuf>=3",
             "intervaltree",
             "tenacity>=5",
diff --git a/tests/utils/tracer.py b/tests/utils/tracer.py
index b7e6e2b01837..6b582b73aefa 100644
--- a/tests/utils/tracer.py
+++ b/tests/utils/tracer.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-from ddtrace.encoding import JSONEncoder, MsgpackEncoder
+from ddtrace.encoding import JSONEncoder, TraceMsgPackEncoder
 from ddtrace.internal.writer import AgentWriter
 from ddtrace.tracer import Tracer
 
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         self.traces = []
         self.services = {}
         self.json_encoder = JSONEncoder()
-        self.msgpack_encoder = MsgpackEncoder()
+        self.msgpack_encoder = TraceMsgpackEncoder()
 
     def write(self, spans=None, services=None):
         if spans: