@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 Values are serialized as native Python types (not wrapped dicts).
 """
 
-import base64
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
 from typing import Any, Dict, Optional
 
@@ -52,12 +51,14 @@ def convert_response_to_dict(response: GetOnlineFeaturesResponse) -> Dict[str, A
 
 
 def _value_to_native(v: Value) -> Optional[Any]:
-    """Convert a Value proto to native Python type (matches proto_json.patch() format)."""
+    """Convert a Value proto to native Python type (matches proto_json.patch() format).
+
+    Note: proto_json.patch() modifies MessageToDict to return raw bytes instead of
+    base64 encoding, so we return raw bytes here to match that behavior.
+    """
     which = v.WhichOneof("val")
     if which is None or which == "null_val":
         return None
-    elif which == "bytes_val":
-        return base64.b64encode(v.bytes_val).decode("ascii")
     elif "_list_" in which:
         return list(getattr(v, which).val)
     else:
 
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
 Related issue: https://github.com/feast-dev/feast/issues/6013
 """
 
-import base64
 import time
 
 import pytest
@@ -99,7 +98,7 @@ def test_bytes_val(self):
         data = b"\x00\x01\x02\x03"
         v = Value(bytes_val=data)
         result = _value_to_native(v)
-        assert result == base64.b64encode(data).decode("ascii")
+        assert result == data
 
     def test_double_list_val(self):
         v = Value(double_list_val=DoubleList(val=[1.1, 2.2, 3.3]))
@@ -357,7 +356,7 @@ def test_metadata_matches_patched_format(self):
             )
 
     def test_bytes_values_match_patched_message_to_dict(self):
-        """Ensure bytes serialization matches proto_json.patch() format (base64)."""
+        """Ensure bytes serialization matches proto_json.patch() format (raw bytes)."""
         response = GetOnlineFeaturesResponse()
         fv = response.results.add()
         fv.values.append(Value(bytes_val=b"\x00\x01\x02\xff"))