diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validate/limits.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validate/limits.go
index b6db5e08cbe..ce91a2a8624 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validate/limits.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validate/limits.go
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ package validate
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"math"
+	"unicode/utf8"
 
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/operation"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validate/constraints"
@@ -31,9 +33,40 @@ func MaxLength[T ~string](_ context.Context, _ operation.Operation, fldPath *fie
 	if value == nil {
 		return nil
 	}
-	if len(*value) > max {
-		return field.ErrorList{field.TooLong(fldPath, *value, max).WithOrigin("maxLength")}
+
+	// if the length of the value in bytes is less
+	// than the maximum size then we can confidently
+	// say that this value is within the bounds
+	// enforced by the maximum value regardless
+	// of the actual makeup of characters in the value
+	byteLength := len(*value)
+	if byteLength <= max {
+		return nil
 	}
+
+	// because runes are up to 4 byte characters, if we assume all characters
+	// in the input are runes, the minimum number of characters that
+	// are specified is len(value)/4. If the minimum multi-byte
+	// character count is greater than our enforced maximum, we
+	// can confidently say that the value is invalid without having
+	// to actually perform the more expensive rune counting step
+	minimum := int(math.Ceil(float64(byteLength) / 4.0))
+	if minimum > max || utf8.RuneCountInString(string(*value)) > max {
+		return field.ErrorList{field.TooLongCharacters(fldPath, *value, max).WithOrigin("maxLength")}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// MaxBytes verifies that the specified value is not longer than max bytes.
+func MaxBytes[T ~string](_ context.Context, _ operation.Operation, fldPath *field.Path, value, _ *T, max int) field.ErrorList {
+	if value == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	if len(*value) > max {
+		return field.ErrorList{field.TooLong(fldPath, *value, max).WithOrigin("maxBytes")}
+	}
+
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validate/limits_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validate/limits_test.go
index f17937c6913..44e866ad8db 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validate/limits_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validate/limits_test.go
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ func TestMaxLength(t *testing.T) {
 		value: "0",
 		max:   0,
 		wantErrs: field.ErrorList{
-			field.TooLong(field.NewPath("fldpath"), nil, 0).WithOrigin("maxLength"),
+			field.TooLongCharacters(field.NewPath("fldpath"), "", 0).WithOrigin("maxLength"),
 		},
 	}, {
 		name:     "one character",
@@ -54,14 +54,55 @@ func TestMaxLength(t *testing.T) {
 		value: "01",
 		max:   1,
 		wantErrs: field.ErrorList{
-			field.TooLong(field.NewPath("fldpath"), nil, 1).WithOrigin("maxLength"),
+			field.TooLongCharacters(field.NewPath("fldpath"), "", 1).WithOrigin("maxLength"),
 		},
 	}, {
 		value: "",
 		max:   -1,
 		wantErrs: field.ErrorList{
-			field.TooLong(field.NewPath("fldpath"), nil, -1).WithOrigin("maxLength"),
+			field.TooLongCharacters(field.NewPath("fldpath"), "", -1).WithOrigin("maxLength"),
 		},
+	}, {
+		name:     "ascii-only characters, less characters than max (n-1)",
+		value:    "abcdefghi",
+		max:      10,
+		wantErrs: nil,
+	}, {
+		name:     "multi-byte characters, less characters than max (n-1)",
+		value:    "©®©®©®©®©",
+		max:      10,
+		wantErrs: nil,
+	}, {
+		name:  "ascii-only characters, more characters than max (n+1)",
+		value: "abcdefghijkl",
+		max:   10,
+		wantErrs: field.ErrorList{
+			field.TooLongCharacters(field.NewPath("fldpath"), "", 10).WithOrigin("maxLength"),
+		},
+	}, {
+		name:  "multi-byte characters, more characters than max (n+1)",
+		value: "©®©®©®©®©®©",
+		max:   10,
+		wantErrs: field.ErrorList{
+			field.TooLongCharacters(field.NewPath("fldpath"), "", 10).WithOrigin("maxLength"),
+		},
+	}, {
+		name:  "mixture of characters, minimum possible size of input is less than max, rune count exceed maximum",
+		value: "©abc®defghi",
+		max:   10,
+		wantErrs: field.ErrorList{
+			field.TooLongCharacters(field.NewPath("fldpath"), "", 10).WithOrigin("maxLength"),
+		},
+	}, {
+		name:     "multi-byte characters, exact characters as max (n)",
+		value:    "©®©®©®©®©®",
+		max:      10,
+		wantErrs: nil,
+	}, {
+		name:     "ascii-only characters, exact characters as max (n)",
+		value:    "abcdefghij",
+		max:      10,
+		wantErrs: nil,
 	}}
 
 	matcher := field.ErrorMatcher{}.ByOrigin().ByDetailSubstring().ByField().ByType()
@@ -213,3 +254,87 @@ func doTestMinimum[T constraints.Integer](t *testing.T, cases []minimumTestCase[
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func TestMaxBytes(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		name     string
+		value    string
+		max      int
+		wantErrs field.ErrorList // regex
+	}{{
+		name:     "empty string",
+		value:    "",
+		max:      0,
+		wantErrs: nil,
+	}, {
+		name:  "zero length",
+		value: "0",
+		max:   0,
+		wantErrs: field.ErrorList{
+			field.TooLong(field.NewPath("fldpath"), "", 0).WithOrigin("maxBytes"),
+		},
+	}, {
+		name:     "one character",
+		value:    "0",
+		max:      1,
+		wantErrs: nil,
+	}, {
+		name:  "two characters",
+		value: "01",
+		max:   1,
+		wantErrs: field.ErrorList{
+			field.TooLong(field.NewPath("fldpath"), "", 1).WithOrigin("maxBytes"),
+		},
+	}, {
+		value: "",
+		max:   -1,
+		wantErrs: field.ErrorList{
+			field.TooLong(field.NewPath("fldpath"), "", -1).WithOrigin("maxBytes"),
+		},
+	}, {
+		name:     "ascii-only characters, less bytes than max",
+		value:    "abcdefghi",
+		max:      10,
+		wantErrs: nil,
+	}, {
+		name:     "multi-byte characters, less bytes than max",
+		value:    "©®©®",
+		max:      10,
+		wantErrs: nil,
+	}, {
+		name:  "ascii-only characters, more bytes than max",
+		value: "abcdefghijkl",
+		max:   10,
+		wantErrs: field.ErrorList{
+			field.TooLong(field.NewPath("fldpath"), "", 10).WithOrigin("maxBytes"),
+		},
+	}, {
+		name:  "multi-byte characters, more bytes than max",
+		value: "©®©®©©",
+		max:   10,
+		wantErrs: field.ErrorList{
+			field.TooLong(field.NewPath("fldpath"), "", 10).WithOrigin("maxBytes"),
+		},
+	}, {
+		name:     "mixture of characters, less bytes than max",
+		value:    "©abc®®",
+		max:      10,
+		wantErrs: nil,
+	}, {
+		name:  "mixture of characters, more bytes than max",
+		value: "©abc®®abc",
+		max:   10,
+		wantErrs: field.ErrorList{
+			field.TooLong(field.NewPath("fldpath"), "", 10).WithOrigin("maxBytes"),
+		},
+	}}
+
+	matcher := field.ErrorMatcher{}.ByOrigin().ByDetailSubstring().ByField().ByType()
+	for _, tc := range cases {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			v := tc.value
+			gotErrs := MaxBytes(context.Background(), operation.Operation{}, field.NewPath("fldpath"), &v, nil, tc.max)
+			matcher.Test(t, tc.wantErrs, gotErrs)
+		})
+	}
+}