diff --git a/components/bt/common/ble_log/include/ble_log.h b/components/bt/common/ble_log/include/ble_log.h
index e57d80c26c..421513e1f8 100644
--- a/components/bt/common/ble_log/include/ble_log.h
+++ b/components/bt/common/ble_log/include/ble_log.h
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2025 Espressif Systems (Shanghai) CO LTD
+ * SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2025-2026 Espressif Systems (Shanghai) CO LTD
  *
  * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
  */
@@ -38,6 +38,20 @@ typedef enum {
     BLE_LOG_SRC_MAX,
 } ble_log_src_t;
 
+/* HCI Log Direction */
+#define BLE_LOG_HCI_DOWNSTREAM  0
+#define BLE_LOG_HCI_UPSTREAM    1
+
+/* HCI Log Write Macro
+ * Encodes direction in MSB of data[0] (HCI type byte) before writing.
+ * Safe because ble_log_write_hex -> ble_log_lbm_write_trans does synchronous memcpy.
+ * Parser reads MSB to determine direction; old firmware with MSB=0 defaults to "sent". */
+#define ble_log_write_hci(direction, data, len) do {    \
+    (data)[0] |= ((direction) << 7);                   \
+    ble_log_write_hex(BLE_LOG_SRC_HCI, (data), (len)); \
+    (data)[0] &= 0x7F;                                 \
+} while (0)
+
 /* INTERFACE */
 bool ble_log_init(void);
 void ble_log_deinit(void);
diff --git a/components/bt/host/bluedroid/api/esp_bluedroid_hci.c b/components/bt/host/bluedroid/api/esp_bluedroid_hci.c
index 82f0246e3e..31c1af4a8c 100644
--- a/components/bt/host/bluedroid/api/esp_bluedroid_hci.c
+++ b/components/bt/host/bluedroid/api/esp_bluedroid_hci.c
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ void hci_host_send_packet(uint8_t *data, uint16_t len)
     ble_log_spi_out_hci_write(BLE_LOG_SPI_OUT_SOURCE_HCI_DOWNSTREAM, data, len);
 #endif // CONFIG_BT_BLE_LOG_SPI_OUT_HCI_ENABLED
 #if CONFIG_BLE_LOG_HOST_SIDE_HCI_LOG_ENABLED
-    ble_log_write_hex(BLE_LOG_SRC_HCI, data, len);
+    ble_log_write_hci(BLE_LOG_HCI_DOWNSTREAM, data, len);
 #endif /* CONFIG_BLE_LOG_HOST_SIDE_HCI_LOG_ENABLED */
 #if (BT_CONTROLLER_INCLUDED == TRUE)
     esp_vhci_host_send_packet(data, len);
diff --git a/components/bt/host/bluedroid/hci/hci_hal_h4.c b/components/bt/host/bluedroid/hci/hci_hal_h4.c
index 475af54302..a8f78aae33 100644
--- a/components/bt/host/bluedroid/hci/hci_hal_h4.c
+++ b/components/bt/host/bluedroid/hci/hci_hal_h4.c
@@ -613,7 +613,7 @@ static int host_recv_pkt_cb(uint8_t *data, uint16_t len)
     ble_log_spi_out_hci_write(BLE_LOG_SPI_OUT_SOURCE_HCI_UPSTREAM, data, len);
 #endif // CONFIG_BT_BLE_LOG_SPI_OUT_HCI_ENABLED
 #if CONFIG_BLE_LOG_HOST_SIDE_HCI_LOG_ENABLED
-    ble_log_write_hex(BLE_LOG_SRC_HCI, data, len);
+    ble_log_write_hci(BLE_LOG_HCI_UPSTREAM, data, len);
 #endif /* CONFIG_BLE_LOG_HOST_SIDE_HCI_LOG_ENABLED */
     //Target has packet to host, malloc new buffer for packet
     BT_HDR *pkt = NULL;
diff --git a/components/bt/host/nimble/esp-hci/src/esp_nimble_hci.c b/components/bt/host/nimble/esp-hci/src/esp_nimble_hci.c
index 097d249295..02065c0853 100644
--- a/components/bt/host/nimble/esp-hci/src/esp_nimble_hci.c
+++ b/components/bt/host/nimble/esp-hci/src/esp_nimble_hci.c
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ void esp_vhci_host_send_packet_wrapper(uint8_t *data, uint16_t len)
     ble_log_spi_out_hci_write(BLE_LOG_SPI_OUT_SOURCE_HCI_DOWNSTREAM, data, len);
 #endif // CONFIG_BT_BLE_LOG_SPI_OUT_HCI_ENABLED
 #if CONFIG_BLE_LOG_HOST_SIDE_HCI_LOG_ENABLED
-    ble_log_write_hex(BLE_LOG_SRC_HCI, data, len);
+    ble_log_write_hci(BLE_LOG_HCI_DOWNSTREAM, data, len);
 #endif /* CONFIG_BLE_LOG_HOST_SIDE_HCI_LOG_ENABLED */
     esp_vhci_host_send_packet(data, len);
 }
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ static int host_rcv_pkt(uint8_t *data, uint16_t len)
     ble_log_spi_out_hci_write(BLE_LOG_SPI_OUT_SOURCE_HCI_UPSTREAM, data, len);
 #endif // CONFIG_BT_BLE_LOG_SPI_OUT_HCI_ENABLED
 #if CONFIG_BLE_LOG_HOST_SIDE_HCI_LOG_ENABLED
-    ble_log_write_hex(BLE_LOG_SRC_HCI, data, len);
+    ble_log_write_hci(BLE_LOG_HCI_UPSTREAM, data, len);
 #endif /* CONFIG_BLE_LOG_HOST_SIDE_HCI_LOG_ENABLED */
 
     bt_record_hci_data(data, len);