diff --git a/changes/4159.doc.md b/changes/4159.doc.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..32738d3635
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/4159.doc.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Clarify how Zarr format 3 codec pipeline roles map to `filters`, `serializer`, and `compressors` when creating arrays.
diff --git a/docs/user-guide/arrays.md b/docs/user-guide/arrays.md
index 51b2fa1a17..d8dde4c804 100644
--- a/docs/user-guide/arrays.md
+++ b/docs/user-guide/arrays.md
@@ -195,13 +195,48 @@ arr_f = arr.with_config({"order": "F"})
 print(arr_f.config)
 ```
 
+## Zarr format 3 codec pipeline
+
+Zarr format 3 stores a single ordered `codecs` pipeline in array metadata, but
+Zarr-Python's array creation functions expose that pipeline through three
+role-specific parameters:
+
+- `filters`: [`zarr.abc.codec.ArrayArrayCodec`][] instances. These transform chunk
+  arrays into chunk arrays before serialization.
+- `serializer`: one [`zarr.abc.codec.ArrayBytesCodec`][] instance. This transforms
+  a chunk array into bytes. Every Zarr format 3 array needs exactly one
+  array-to-bytes codec, either supplied explicitly or chosen by default.
+- `compressors`: [`zarr.abc.codec.BytesBytesCodec`][] instances. These transform
+  bytes into bytes after serialization.
+
+The `compressors` parameter is only for bytes-to-bytes codecs. If a codec is an
+`ArrayBytesCodec`, pass it with `serializer`, not `compressors`. For example, the
+built-in [`zarr.codecs.BytesCodec`][] can be supplied explicitly as the serializer:
+
+```python exec="true" session="arrays" source="above" result="ansi"
+serializer = zarr.codecs.BytesCodec(endian="little")
+z_explicit_serializer = zarr.create_array(
+    store="data/example-explicit-serializer.zarr",
+    shape=(100,),
+    chunks=(10,),
+    dtype="int32",
+    serializer=serializer,
+    compressors=None,
+)
+print(z_explicit_serializer.serializer)
+print(f"Compressors: {z_explicit_serializer.compressors}")
+```
+
+The same rule applies to third-party Zarr format 3 codecs: if the codec is
+documented as an `ArrayBytesCodec`, provide an instance as `serializer=...`.
+
 ## Compressors
 
 A number of different compressors can be used with Zarr. Zarr includes Blosc,
 Zstandard and Gzip compressors. Additional compressors are available through
 a separate package called [NumCodecs](https://numcodecs.readthedocs.io/) which provides various
 compressor libraries including LZ4, Zlib, BZ2 and LZMA.
-Different compressors can be provided via the `compressors` keyword
+Different bytes-to-bytes compressors can be provided via the `compressors` keyword
 argument accepted by all array creation functions. For example:
 
 ```python exec="true" session="arrays" source="above" result="ansi"
diff --git a/src/zarr/api/asynchronous.py b/src/zarr/api/asynchronous.py
index c751d6a31c..e93e0154b3 100644
--- a/src/zarr/api/asynchronous.py
+++ b/src/zarr/api/asynchronous.py
@@ -1022,6 +1022,10 @@ async def create(
 
         The elements of ``codecs`` specify the transformation from array values to stored bytes.
         Zarr format 3 only. Zarr format 2 arrays should use ``filters`` and ``compressor`` instead.
+        In order, a Zarr format 3 pipeline contains zero or more
+        [`zarr.abc.codec.ArrayArrayCodec`][] filters, exactly one
+        [`zarr.abc.codec.ArrayBytesCodec`][] serializer, and zero or more
+        [`zarr.abc.codec.BytesBytesCodec`][] compressors.
 
         If no codecs are provided, default codecs will be used based on the data type of the array.
         For most data types, the default codecs are the tuple ``(BytesCodec(), ZstdCodec())``;
diff --git a/src/zarr/api/synchronous.py b/src/zarr/api/synchronous.py
index 3231837a04..da8989a6df 100644
--- a/src/zarr/api/synchronous.py
+++ b/src/zarr/api/synchronous.py
@@ -760,6 +760,10 @@ def create(
 
         The elements of ``codecs`` specify the transformation from array values to stored bytes.
         Zarr format 3 only. Zarr format 2 arrays should use ``filters`` and ``compressor`` instead.
+        In order, a Zarr format 3 pipeline contains zero or more
+        [`zarr.abc.codec.ArrayArrayCodec`][] filters, exactly one
+        [`zarr.abc.codec.ArrayBytesCodec`][] serializer, and zero or more
+        [`zarr.abc.codec.BytesBytesCodec`][] compressors.
 
         If no codecs are provided, default codecs will be used based on the data type of the array.
         For most data types, the default codecs are the tuple ``(BytesCodec(), ZstdCodec())``;
@@ -892,7 +896,11 @@ def create_array(
         filters are applied (if any are specified) and the data is serialized into bytes.
 
         For Zarr format 3, a "compressor" is a codec that takes a bytestream, and
-        returns another bytestream. Multiple compressors may be provided for Zarr format 3.
+        returns another bytestream. These values must be instances of
+        [`zarr.abc.codec.BytesBytesCodec`][], or dict representations of
+        [`zarr.abc.codec.BytesBytesCodec`][]. Multiple compressors may be provided
+        for Zarr format 3. Codecs that take an array and return bytes are serializers
+        and must be supplied with ``serializer`` instead.
         If no ``compressors`` are provided, a default set of compressors will be used.
         These defaults can be changed by modifying the value of ``array.v3_default_compressors``
         in [`zarr.config`][zarr.config].
@@ -906,6 +914,8 @@ def create_array(
     serializer : dict[str, JSON] | ArrayBytesCodec, optional
         Array-to-bytes codec to use for encoding the array data.
         Zarr format 3 only. Zarr format 2 arrays use implicit array-to-bytes conversion.
+        Codecs that are instances of [`zarr.abc.codec.ArrayBytesCodec`][] must be
+        supplied here, not with ``compressors``.
         If no ``serializer`` is provided, a default serializer will be used.
         These defaults can be changed by modifying the value of ``array.v3_default_serializer``
         in [`zarr.config`][zarr.config].
diff --git a/src/zarr/core/array.py b/src/zarr/core/array.py
index f75ef72415..0cbc3d1bfc 100644
--- a/src/zarr/core/array.py
+++ b/src/zarr/core/array.py
@@ -4632,7 +4632,11 @@ async def create_array(
         filters are applied (if any are specified) and the data is serialized into bytes.
 
         For Zarr format 3, a "compressor" is a codec that takes a bytestream, and
-        returns another bytestream. Multiple compressors may be provided for Zarr format 3.
+        returns another bytestream. These values must be instances of
+        [`zarr.abc.codec.BytesBytesCodec`][], or dict representations of
+        [`zarr.abc.codec.BytesBytesCodec`][]. Multiple compressors may be provided
+        for Zarr format 3. Codecs that take an array and return bytes are serializers
+        and must be supplied with ``serializer`` instead.
         If no ``compressors`` are provided, a default set of compressors will be used.
         These defaults can be changed by modifying the value of ``array.v3_default_compressors``
         in [`zarr.config`][zarr.config].
@@ -4646,6 +4650,8 @@ async def create_array(
     serializer : dict[str, JSON] | ArrayBytesCodec, optional
         Array-to-bytes codec to use for encoding the array data.
         Zarr format 3 only. Zarr format 2 arrays use implicit array-to-bytes conversion.
+        Codecs that are instances of [`zarr.abc.codec.ArrayBytesCodec`][] must be
+        supplied here, not with ``compressors``.
         If no ``serializer`` is provided, a default serializer will be used.
         These defaults can be changed by modifying the value of ``array.v3_default_serializer``
         in [`zarr.config`][zarr.config].