diff --git a/cmd/kube-controller-manager/app/core.go b/cmd/kube-controller-manager/app/core.go
index 41ea747071557..5e710cdc55945 100644
--- a/cmd/kube-controller-manager/app/core.go
+++ b/cmd/kube-controller-manager/app/core.go
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ import (
 	utilfeature "k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/feature"
 	clientset "k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/metadata"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/rest"
 	restclient "k8s.io/client-go/rest"
 	cloudnodelifecyclecontroller "k8s.io/cloud-provider/controllers/nodelifecycle"
 	routecontroller "k8s.io/cloud-provider/controllers/route"
@@ -589,7 +590,12 @@ func startNamespaceController(ctx context.Context, controllerContext ControllerC
 	nsKubeconfig := controllerContext.ClientBuilder.ConfigOrDie("namespace-controller")
 	nsKubeconfig.QPS *= 20
 	nsKubeconfig.Burst *= 100
-	namespaceKubeClient := clientset.NewForConfigOrDie(nsKubeconfig)
+
+	// Use protobuf
+	config := rest.CopyConfig(nsKubeconfig)
+	config.AcceptContentTypes = "application/vnd.kubernetes.protobuf,application/json"
+	config.ContentType = "application/vnd.kubernetes.protobuf"
+	namespaceKubeClient := clientset.NewForConfigOrDie(config)
 	return startModifiedNamespaceController(ctx, controllerContext, namespaceKubeClient, nsKubeconfig)
 }
 
diff --git a/cmd/kube-controller-manager/app/options/options.go b/cmd/kube-controller-manager/app/options/options.go
index 51b2e1220b348..4cff93e1cb6af 100644
--- a/cmd/kube-controller-manager/app/options/options.go
+++ b/cmd/kube-controller-manager/app/options/options.go
@@ -481,7 +481,10 @@ func (s KubeControllerManagerOptions) Config(allControllers []string, disabledBy
 		kubeconfig.Wrap(customOpenShiftRoundTripper)
 	}
 
-	client, err := clientset.NewForConfig(restclient.AddUserAgent(kubeconfig, KubeControllerManagerUserAgent))
+	protobufConfig := restclient.CopyConfig(kubeconfig)
+	protobufConfig.AcceptContentTypes = "application/vnd.kubernetes.protobuf,application/json"
+	protobufConfig.ContentType = "application/vnd.kubernetes.protobuf"
+	client, err := clientset.NewForConfig(restclient.AddUserAgent(protobufConfig, KubeControllerManagerUserAgent))
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
diff --git a/cmd/kube-controller-manager/app/patch_informers_openshift.go b/cmd/kube-controller-manager/app/patch_informers_openshift.go
index 0c032dec30483..7c74682d3fd18 100644
--- a/cmd/kube-controller-manager/app/patch_informers_openshift.go
+++ b/cmd/kube-controller-manager/app/patch_informers_openshift.go
@@ -118,7 +118,11 @@ type combinedInformers struct {
 }
 
 func newInformerFactory(clientConfig *rest.Config) (informers.SharedInformerFactory, error) {
-	kubeClient, err := kubernetes.NewForConfig(clientConfig)
+	protobufConfig := rest.CopyConfig(clientConfig)
+	protobufConfig.AcceptContentTypes = "application/vnd.kubernetes.protobuf,application/json"
+	protobufConfig.ContentType = "application/vnd.kubernetes.protobuf"
+
+	kubeClient, err := kubernetes.NewForConfig(protobufConfig)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
diff --git a/cmd/kube-scheduler/app/options/options.go b/cmd/kube-scheduler/app/options/options.go
index 45e1d97b11f17..dace3cf6726cf 100644
--- a/cmd/kube-scheduler/app/options/options.go
+++ b/cmd/kube-scheduler/app/options/options.go
@@ -398,12 +398,15 @@ func createKubeConfig(config componentbaseconfig.ClientConnectionConfiguration,
 
 // createClients creates a kube client and an event client from the given kubeConfig
 func createClients(kubeConfig *restclient.Config) (clientset.Interface, clientset.Interface, error) {
-	client, err := clientset.NewForConfig(restclient.AddUserAgent(kubeConfig, "scheduler"))
+	protobufConfig := restclient.CopyConfig(kubeConfig)
+	protobufConfig.AcceptContentTypes = "application/vnd.kubernetes.protobuf,application/json"
+	protobufConfig.ContentType = "application/vnd.kubernetes.protobuf"
+	client, err := clientset.NewForConfig(restclient.AddUserAgent(protobufConfig, "scheduler"))
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, nil, err
 	}
 
-	eventClient, err := clientset.NewForConfig(kubeConfig)
+	eventClient, err := clientset.NewForConfig(protobufConfig)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, nil, err
 	}
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/filters/audit.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/filters/audit.go
index 6f850f728bfdb..9fd929e96999f 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/filters/audit.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/filters/audit.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"net"
 	"net/http"
+	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
 
@@ -242,9 +243,26 @@ func (a *auditResponseWriter) processCode(code int) {
 	})
 }
 
+func (a *auditResponseWriter) Header() http.Header {
+	for name, value := range a.ResponseWriter.Header() {
+		switch {
+		case name == "Content-Type":
+			a.event.Annotations["openshift.io/response-header-content-type"] = strings.Join(value, ",")
+		case name == "Content-Encoding":
+			a.event.Annotations["openshift.io/response-header-content-encoding"] = strings.Join(value, ",")
+		case name == "Content-Length":
+			a.event.Annotations["openshift.io/response-header-content-length"] = strings.Join(value, ",")
+		}
+	}
+	return a.ResponseWriter.Header()
+}
+
 func (a *auditResponseWriter) Write(bs []byte) (int, error) {
 	// the Go library calls WriteHeader internally if no code was written yet. But this will go unnoticed for us
 	a.processCode(http.StatusOK)
+	if _, ok := a.event.Annotations["openshift.io/response-header-content-length"]; !ok {
+		a.event.Annotations["openshift.io/response-header-content-length"] = fmt.Sprintf("%d", len(bs))
+	}
 	return a.ResponseWriter.Write(bs)
 }
 
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/config.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/config.go
index adca901631baa..047867a4deb8c 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/config.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/config.go
@@ -1104,6 +1104,7 @@ func DefaultBuildHandlerChain(apiHandler http.Handler, c *Config) http.Handler {
 	handler = genericfilters.WithWaitGroup(handler, c.LongRunningFunc, c.NonLongRunningRequestWaitGroup)
 	handler = WithNonReadyRequestLogging(handler, c.lifecycleSignals.HasBeenReady)
 	handler = WithLateConnectionFilter(handler)
+	handler = WithRequestHeaders(handler)
 	if c.ShutdownWatchTerminationGracePeriod > 0 {
 		handler = genericfilters.WithWatchTerminationDuringShutdown(handler, c.lifecycleSignals, c.WatchRequestWaitGroup)
 	}
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/patch_genericapiserver.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/patch_genericapiserver.go
index a84494b1982db..60e03cbd83997 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/patch_genericapiserver.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/patch_genericapiserver.go
@@ -197,10 +197,10 @@ func WithLateConnectionFilter(handler http.Handler) http.Handler {
 		if late {
 			if pth := "/" + strings.TrimLeft(r.URL.Path, "/"); pth != "/readyz" && pth != "/healthz" && pth != "/livez" {
 				if isLocal(r) {
-					audit.AddAuditAnnotation(r.Context(), "openshift.io/during-graceful", fmt.Sprintf("loopback=true,%v,readyz=false", r.URL.Host))
+					audit.AddAuditAnnotation(r.Context(), "openshift.io/during-graceful", fmt.Sprintf("loopback=true,%v,readyz=false", r.Host))
 					klog.V(4).Infof("Loopback request to %q (user agent %q) through connection created very late in the graceful termination process (more than 80%% has passed). This client probably does not watch /readyz and might get failures when termination is over.", r.URL.Path, r.UserAgent())
 				} else {
-					audit.AddAuditAnnotation(r.Context(), "openshift.io/during-graceful", fmt.Sprintf("loopback=false,%v,readyz=false", r.URL.Host))
+					audit.AddAuditAnnotation(r.Context(), "openshift.io/during-graceful", fmt.Sprintf("loopback=false,%v,readyz=false", r.Host))
 					klog.Warningf("Request to %q (source IP %s, user agent %q) through a connection created very late in the graceful termination process (more than 80%% has passed), possibly a sign for a broken load balancer setup.", r.URL.Path, r.RemoteAddr, r.UserAgent())
 
 					// create only one event to avoid event spam.
@@ -217,6 +217,24 @@ func WithLateConnectionFilter(handler http.Handler) http.Handler {
 	})
 }
 
+// WithRequestHeaders logs every non-probe request and logs interesting request headers.
+func WithRequestHeaders(handler http.Handler) http.Handler {
+	return http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		if pth := "/" + strings.TrimLeft(r.URL.Path, "/"); pth != "/readyz" && pth != "/healthz" && pth != "/livez" {
+			if accept, ok := r.Header["Accept"]; ok {
+				audit.AddAuditAnnotation(r.Context(), "openshift.io/request-header-accept", strings.Join(accept, ","))
+			}
+			if accept_encoding, ok := r.Header["Accept-Encoding"]; ok {
+				audit.AddAuditAnnotation(r.Context(), "openshift.io/request-header-accept-encoding", strings.Join(accept_encoding, ","))
+			}
+			if content_length, ok := r.Header["Content-Length"]; ok {
+				audit.AddAuditAnnotation(r.Context(), "openshift.io/request-header-content-length", strings.Join(content_length, ","))
+			}
+		}
+		handler.ServeHTTP(w, r)
+	})
+}
+
 // WithNonReadyRequestLogging rejects the request until the process has been ready once.
 func WithNonReadyRequestLogging(handler http.Handler, hasBeenReadySignal lifecycleSignal) http.Handler {
 	if hasBeenReadySignal == nil {