diff --git a/google/cloud/pubsublite/cloudpubsub/message_transforms.py b/google/cloud/pubsublite/cloudpubsub/message_transforms.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6db67546
--- /dev/null
+++ b/google/cloud/pubsublite/cloudpubsub/message_transforms.py
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+import datetime
+
+from google.api_core.exceptions import InvalidArgument
+from google.protobuf.timestamp_pb2 import Timestamp
+from google.pubsub_v1 import PubsubMessage
+
+from google.cloud.pubsublite_v1 import AttributeValues, SequencedMessage, PubSubMessage
+
+PUBSUB_LITE_EVENT_TIME = "x-goog-pubsublite-event-time"
+
+
+def encode_attribute_event_time(dt: datetime.datetime) -> str:
+  ts = Timestamp()
+  ts.FromDatetime(dt)
+  return ts.ToJsonString()
+
+
+def decode_attribute_event_time(attr: str) -> datetime.datetime:
+  try:
+    ts = Timestamp()
+    ts.FromJsonString(attr)
+    return ts.ToDatetime()
+  except ValueError:
+    raise InvalidArgument("Invalid value for event time attribute.")
+
+
+def _parse_attributes(values: AttributeValues) -> str:
+  if not len(values.values) == 1:
+    raise InvalidArgument("Received an unparseable message with multiple values for an attribute.")
+  value: bytes = values.values[0]
+  try:
+    return value.decode('utf-8')
+  except UnicodeError:
+    raise InvalidArgument("Received an unparseable message with a non-utf8 attribute.")
+
+
+def to_cps_subscribe_message(source: SequencedMessage) -> PubsubMessage:
+  message: PubsubMessage = to_cps_publish_message(source.message)
+  message.message_id = str(source.cursor.offset)
+  message.publish_time = source.publish_time
+  return message
+
+
+def to_cps_publish_message(source: PubSubMessage) -> PubsubMessage:
+  out = PubsubMessage()
+  try:
+    out.ordering_key = source.key.decode('utf-8')
+  except UnicodeError:
+    raise InvalidArgument("Received an unparseable message with a non-utf8 key.")
+  if PUBSUB_LITE_EVENT_TIME in source.attributes:
+    raise InvalidArgument("Special timestamp attribute exists in wire message. Unable to parse message.")
+  out.data = source.data
+  for key, values in source.attributes.items():
+    out.attributes[key] = _parse_attributes(values)
+  if 'event_time' in source:
+    out.attributes[PUBSUB_LITE_EVENT_TIME] = encode_attribute_event_time(source.event_time)
+  return out
+
+
+def from_cps_publish_message(source: PubsubMessage) -> PubSubMessage:
+  out = PubSubMessage()
+  if PUBSUB_LITE_EVENT_TIME in source.attributes:
+    out.event_time = decode_attribute_event_time(source.attributes[PUBSUB_LITE_EVENT_TIME])
+  out.data = source.data
+  out.key = source.ordering_key.encode('utf-8')
+  for key, value in source.attributes.items():
+    if key != PUBSUB_LITE_EVENT_TIME:
+      out.attributes[key] = AttributeValues(values=[value.encode('utf-8')])
+  return out
diff --git a/google/cloud/pubsublite/publish_metadata.py b/google/cloud/pubsublite/publish_metadata.py
index 6b37211f..83c50515 100644
--- a/google/cloud/pubsublite/publish_metadata.py
+++ b/google/cloud/pubsublite/publish_metadata.py
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 from typing import NamedTuple
+import json
+
 from google.cloud.pubsublite_v1.types.common import Cursor
 from google.cloud.pubsublite.partition import Partition
 
@@ -6,3 +8,14 @@
 class PublishMetadata(NamedTuple):
   partition: Partition
   cursor: Cursor
+
+  def encode(self) -> str:
+    return json.dumps({
+      'partition': self.partition.value,
+      'offset': self.cursor.offset
+    })
+
+  @staticmethod
+  def decode(source: str) -> 'PublishMetadata':
+    loaded = json.loads(source)
+    return PublishMetadata(partition=Partition(loaded['partition']), cursor=Cursor(offset=loaded['offset']))
diff --git a/tests/unit/pubsublite/cloudpubsub/message_transforms_test.py b/tests/unit/pubsublite/cloudpubsub/message_transforms_test.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e133baaf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/pubsublite/cloudpubsub/message_transforms_test.py
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+import datetime
+
+import pytest
+from google.api_core.exceptions import InvalidArgument
+from google.protobuf.timestamp_pb2 import Timestamp
+from google.pubsub_v1 import PubsubMessage
+
+from google.cloud.pubsublite.cloudpubsub.message_transforms import PUBSUB_LITE_EVENT_TIME, to_cps_subscribe_message, \
+  encode_attribute_event_time, from_cps_publish_message
+from google.cloud.pubsublite_v1 import SequencedMessage, Cursor, PubSubMessage, AttributeValues
+
+NOT_UTF8 = bytes.fromhex('ffff')
+
+
+def test_invalid_subscribe_transform_key():
+  with pytest.raises(InvalidArgument):
+    to_cps_subscribe_message(
+      SequencedMessage(message=PubSubMessage(key=NOT_UTF8), publish_time=Timestamp(), cursor=Cursor(offset=10),
+                       size_bytes=10))
+
+
+def test_invalid_subscribe_contains_magic_attribute():
+  with pytest.raises(InvalidArgument):
+    to_cps_subscribe_message(SequencedMessage(
+      message=PubSubMessage(key=b'def', attributes={PUBSUB_LITE_EVENT_TIME: AttributeValues(values=[b'abc'])}),
+      publish_time=Timestamp(seconds=10), cursor=Cursor(offset=10), size_bytes=10))
+
+
+def test_invalid_subscribe_contains_multiple_attributes():
+  with pytest.raises(InvalidArgument):
+    to_cps_subscribe_message(SequencedMessage(
+      message=PubSubMessage(key=b'def', attributes={'xyz': AttributeValues(values=[b'abc', b''])}),
+      publish_time=Timestamp(seconds=10), cursor=Cursor(offset=10), size_bytes=10))
+
+
+def test_invalid_subscribe_contains_non_utf8_attributes():
+  with pytest.raises(InvalidArgument):
+    to_cps_subscribe_message(SequencedMessage(
+      message=PubSubMessage(key=b'def', attributes={'xyz': AttributeValues(values=[NOT_UTF8])}),
+      publish_time=Timestamp(seconds=10), cursor=Cursor(offset=10), size_bytes=10))
+
+
+def test_subscribe_transform_correct():
+  expected = PubsubMessage(
+    data=b'xyz', ordering_key='def', attributes={'x': 'abc', 'y': 'abc',
+                                                 PUBSUB_LITE_EVENT_TIME: encode_attribute_event_time(
+                                                   Timestamp(seconds=55).ToDatetime())},
+    message_id=str(10), publish_time=Timestamp(seconds=10))
+  result = to_cps_subscribe_message(SequencedMessage(
+    message=PubSubMessage(data=b'xyz', key=b'def', event_time=Timestamp(seconds=55),
+                          attributes={'x': AttributeValues(values=[b'abc']), 'y': AttributeValues(values=[b'abc'])}),
+    publish_time=Timestamp(seconds=10), cursor=Cursor(offset=10), size_bytes=10))
+  assert result == expected
+
+
+def test_publish_invalid_event_time():
+  with pytest.raises(InvalidArgument):
+    from_cps_publish_message(PubsubMessage(attributes={PUBSUB_LITE_EVENT_TIME: 'probably not an encoded proto'}))
+
+
+def test_publish_valid_transform():
+  now = datetime.datetime.now()
+  expected = PubSubMessage(data=b'xyz', key=b'def', event_time=now,
+                           attributes={'x': AttributeValues(values=[b'abc']), 'y': AttributeValues(values=[b'abc'])})
+  result = from_cps_publish_message(PubsubMessage(
+    data=b'xyz', ordering_key='def', attributes={'x': 'abc', 'y': 'abc',
+                                                 PUBSUB_LITE_EVENT_TIME: encode_attribute_event_time(
+                                                   now)}))
+  assert result == expected