diff --git a/sentry-types/src/sampling.rs b/sentry-types/src/sampling.rs
index 1c71080d9..fdd209614 100644
--- a/sentry-types/src/sampling.rs
+++ b/sentry-types/src/sampling.rs
@@ -5,9 +5,22 @@ use std::fmt::{Display, Formatter, Result as FmtResult};
 use std::str::FromStr;
 use thiserror::Error;
 
+/// The number of decimal places in [`SampleRand`].
+const SAMPLE_RAND_DECIMALS: usize = 6;
+
 /// A random number generated at the start of a trace by the head of trace SDK.
+///
+/// The value is a number in the half-open interval [0.0, 1.0). Currently, at most six decimal
+/// places can be represented, though this is subject to change.
 #[derive(Clone, Copy, Debug, Serialize, Deserialize, PartialEq)]
-pub struct SampleRand(f64);
+pub struct SampleRand {
+    /// The value of the sample rand, in ticks, where one tick corresponds to `0.000001`.
+    ///
+    /// The wire representation is `0.` followed by the tick count padded to six digits (e.g.
+    /// `0.5` normalizes to `"0.500000"`). The tick count is strictly less than 1,000,000, so
+    /// the invalid value 1.0 is unrepresentable.
+    ticks: u32,
+}
 
 /// An error that indicates failure to construct a SampleRand.
 #[derive(Debug, Error)]
@@ -29,7 +42,10 @@ impl TryFrom<f64> for SampleRand {
         if !(0.0..1.0).contains(&value) {
             return Err(InvalidSampleRandError::OutOfRange);
         }
-        Ok(Self(value))
+        // Always rounds down; since `value < 1.0`, the result can never reach 1,000,000 ticks.
+        Ok(Self {
+            ticks: (value * 1_000_000.0).floor() as u32,
+        })
     }
 }
 
@@ -37,20 +53,56 @@ impl FromStr for SampleRand {
     type Err = InvalidSampleRandError;
 
     fn from_str(s: &str) -> Result<Self, Self::Err> {
-        let x: f64 = s.parse().map_err(InvalidSampleRandError::InvalidFloat)?;
-        Self::try_from(x)
+        match Self::try_from_spec_string(s) {
+            Some(sample_rand) => Ok(sample_rand),
+            // Fall back to f64 parsing for backwards-compatibility
+            None => Self::try_from(
+                s.parse::<f64>()
+                    .map_err(InvalidSampleRandError::InvalidFloat)?,
+            ),
+        }
     }
 }
 
 impl Display for SampleRand {
     fn fmt(&self, f: &mut Formatter<'_>) -> FmtResult {
-        // Special case: "{:.6}" would round values greater than or equal to 0.9999995 to 1.0,
-        // as Rust uses [rounding half-to-even](https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/fmt/#precision).
-        // Round to 0.999999 instead to comply with spec.
-        if self.0 >= 0.9999995 {
-            write!(f, "0.999999")
-        } else {
-            write!(f, "{:.6}", self.0)
+        // Always exactly six digits; the maximum output is `0.999999`.
+        write!(f, "0.{:06}", self.ticks)
+    }
+}
+
+impl SampleRand {
+    /// Tries to parse a sample_rand from a (nearly) spec-compliant string.
+    ///
+    /// This will parse sample_rand that is formatted like `0.<digits>` without relying on float
+    /// parsing. We can parse any number of digits, not just exactly six as per spec.
+    ///
+    /// Returns `None` if the string is not spec-compliant.
+    fn try_from_spec_string(s: &str) -> Option<Self> {
+        let digits = s.strip_prefix("0.")?;
+
+        if digits.is_empty() || digits.bytes().any(|b| !b.is_ascii_digit()) {
+            return None;
         }
+
+        // The difference between the number of digits in the string and the number of
+        // digits in a sample_rand value. After parsing the digits as a u32, we need to
+        // multiply by 10 to this power in order to pad the value with enough zeroes.
+        // If the incoming sample_rand value complies with the spec, missing_digits will
+        // be zero because the incoming value has exactly six digits.
+        let missing_digits: u32 = SAMPLE_RAND_DECIMALS
+            .saturating_sub(digits.len())
+            .try_into()
+            .expect("this is at most six, which is representable as u32");
+
+        // Truncate digits to at most six digits, parse as u32, and pad with missing
+        // digits, if any.
+        let ticks = digits[..SAMPLE_RAND_DECIMALS.min(digits.len())]
+            .parse::<u32>()
+            .ok()? // Should not currently error due to is_ascii_digit check
+            .checked_mul(10_u32.pow(missing_digits))
+            .expect("resulting value at most 999_999 which does not overflow");
+
+        Some(Self { ticks })
     }
 }
diff --git a/sentry-types/tests/test_sampling_types.rs b/sentry-types/tests/test_sampling_types.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..10ac483d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sentry-types/tests/test_sampling_types.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+use sentry_types::protocol::v7::SampleRand;
+
+#[test]
+fn sample_rand_lower_bound() {
+    assert_eq!(
+        "0.000000".parse::<SampleRand>().unwrap().to_string(),
+        "0.000000"
+    );
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn sample_rand_upper_bound() {
+    assert_eq!(
+        "0.999999".parse::<SampleRand>().unwrap().to_string(),
+        "0.999999"
+    );
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn sample_rand_1_rejected() {
+    assert!("1.000000".parse::<SampleRand>().is_err());
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn sample_rand_few_digits() {
+    assert_eq!("0.5".parse::<SampleRand>().unwrap().to_string(), "0.500000");
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn sample_rand_truncates_too_many_digits() {
+    assert_eq!(
+        "0.1234567".parse::<SampleRand>().unwrap().to_string(),
+        "0.123456"
+    );
+}