diff --git a/packages/grafana-data/src/dataframe/DataFrameJSON.test.ts b/packages/grafana-data/src/dataframe/DataFrameJSON.test.ts
index 6cd11677ba0..fe6930eaf2f 100644
--- a/packages/grafana-data/src/dataframe/DataFrameJSON.test.ts
+++ b/packages/grafana-data/src/dataframe/DataFrameJSON.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
-import { FieldType } from '../types/dataFrame';
+import { ArrayVector } from '..';
+import { DataFrame, FieldType } from '../types/dataFrame';
 
-import { DataFrameJSON, dataFrameFromJSON } from './DataFrameJSON';
+import { DataFrameJSON, dataFrameFromJSON, dataFrameToJSON } from './DataFrameJSON';
 
 describe('DataFrame JSON', () => {
   describe('when called with a DataFrame', () => {
@@ -137,5 +138,104 @@ describe('DataFrame JSON', () => {
         }
       `);
     });
+
+    it('should decode fields with nanos', () => {
+      const json: DataFrameJSON = {
+        schema: {
+          fields: [
+            { name: 'time1', type: FieldType.time },
+            { name: 'time2', type: FieldType.time },
+          ],
+        },
+        data: {
+          values: [
+            [1, 2, 3],
+            [4, 5, 6],
+          ],
+          nanos: [null, [7, 8, 9]],
+        },
+      };
+
+      const frame = dataFrameFromJSON(json);
+      expect(frame).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
+        {
+          "fields": [
+            {
+              "config": {},
+              "entities": {},
+              "name": "time1",
+              "type": "time",
+              "values": [
+                1,
+                2,
+                3,
+              ],
+            },
+            {
+              "config": {},
+              "entities": {},
+              "name": "time2",
+              "nanos": [
+                7,
+                8,
+                9,
+              ],
+              "type": "time",
+              "values": [
+                4,
+                5,
+                6,
+              ],
+            },
+          ],
+          "length": 3,
+        }
+      `);
+    });
+
+    it('should encode fields with nanos', () => {
+      const inputFrame: DataFrame = {
+        refId: 'A',
+        meta: {},
+        name: 'f1',
+        fields: [
+          {
+            name: 'time1',
+            type: FieldType.time,
+            config: {},
+            values: new ArrayVector([11, 12, 13]),
+          },
+          {
+            name: 'time2',
+            type: FieldType.time,
+            config: {},
+            values: new ArrayVector([14, 15, 16]),
+            nanos: [17, 18, 19],
+          },
+        ],
+        length: 3,
+      };
+
+      const expectedJSON: DataFrameJSON = {
+        schema: {
+          fields: [
+            { name: 'time1', type: FieldType.time, config: {} },
+            { name: 'time2', type: FieldType.time, config: {} },
+          ],
+          meta: {},
+          name: 'f1',
+          refId: 'A',
+        },
+        data: {
+          nanos: [null, [17, 18, 19]],
+          values: [
+            [11, 12, 13],
+            [14, 15, 16],
+          ],
+        },
+      };
+
+      expect(dataFrameToJSON(inputFrame)).toStrictEqual(expectedJSON);
+    });
   });
 });
diff --git a/packages/grafana-data/src/dataframe/DataFrameJSON.ts b/packages/grafana-data/src/dataframe/DataFrameJSON.ts
index 79dd8e14acd..47b64fe72b6 100644
--- a/packages/grafana-data/src/dataframe/DataFrameJSON.ts
+++ b/packages/grafana-data/src/dataframe/DataFrameJSON.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { DataFrame, FieldType, FieldConfig, Labels, QueryResultMeta } from '../types';
+import { DataFrame, FieldType, FieldConfig, Labels, QueryResultMeta, Field } from '../types';
 import { ArrayVector } from '../vector';
 
 import { guessFieldTypeFromNameAndValue } from './processDataFrame';
@@ -56,6 +56,13 @@ export interface DataFrameData {
    * NOTE: currently only decoding is implemented
    */
   enums?: Array<string[] | null>;
+
+  /**
+   * Holds integers between 0 and 999999, used by time-fields
+   * to store the nanosecond-precision that cannot be represented
+   * by the millisecond-based base value.
+   */
+  nanos?: Array<number[] | null>;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -188,9 +195,11 @@ export function dataFrameFromJSON(dto: DataFrameJSON): DataFrame {
       type = FieldType.string;
     }
 
+    const nanos = data?.nanos?.[index];
+
     // TODO: expand arrays further using bases,factors
 
-    return {
+    const dataFrameField: Field & { entities: FieldValueEntityLookup } = {
       ...f,
       type: type ?? guessFieldType(f.name, buffer),
       config: f.config ?? {},
@@ -198,6 +207,12 @@ export function dataFrameFromJSON(dto: DataFrameJSON): DataFrame {
       // the presence of this prop is an optimization signal & lookup for consumers
       entities: entities ?? {},
     };
+
+    if (nanos != null) {
+      dataFrameField.nanos = nanos;
+    }
+
+    return dataFrameField;
   });
 
   return {
@@ -216,18 +231,34 @@ export function dataFrameToJSON(frame: DataFrame): DataFrameJSON {
   const data: DataFrameData = {
     values: [],
   };
+
+  const allNanos: Array<number[] | null> = [];
+  let hasNanos = false;
+
   const schema: DataFrameSchema = {
     refId: frame.refId,
     meta: frame.meta,
     name: frame.name,
     fields: frame.fields.map((f) => {
-      const { values, state, display, ...sfield } = f;
+      const { values, nanos, state, display, ...sfield } = f;
       delete (sfield as any).entities;
       data.values.push(values.toArray());
+
+      if (nanos != null) {
+        allNanos.push(nanos);
+        hasNanos = true;
+      } else {
+        allNanos.push(null);
+      }
+
       return sfield;
     }),
   };
 
+  if (hasNanos) {
+    data.nanos = allNanos;
+  }
+
   return {
     schema,
     data,
diff --git a/packages/grafana-data/src/types/dataFrame.ts b/packages/grafana-data/src/types/dataFrame.ts
index 5ee8a3d30db..d7200416ce4 100644
--- a/packages/grafana-data/src/types/dataFrame.ts
+++ b/packages/grafana-data/src/types/dataFrame.ts
@@ -137,6 +137,14 @@ export interface Field<T = any, V = Vector<T>> {
    */
   config: FieldConfig;
   values: V; // The raw field values
+
+  /**
+   * When type === FieldType.Time, this can optionally store
+   * the nanosecond-precison fractions as integers between
+   * 0 and 999999.
+   */
+  nanos?: number[];
+
   labels?: Labels;
 
   /**