diff --git a/packages/zarr-metadata/changes/4264.bugfix.md b/packages/zarr-metadata/changes/4264.bugfix.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..466bf5941d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/zarr-metadata/changes/4264.bugfix.md
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+`JSONValue`'s array arm is now the covariant `Sequence["JSONValue"]` rather
+than the invariant `list["JSONValue"] | tuple["JSONValue", ...]`. Values typed
+with a narrower element type — a `list[str]` field on a TypedDict, a
+`Sequence[float]` — now count as JSON values, and TypedDicts whose fields
+carry precise types are now assignable to `Mapping[str, JSONValue]`.
+Type-level cost, accepted deliberately: `Sequence` says nothing about the
+concrete container and admits `str`/`bytes`, so runtime code narrowing a JSON
+array must exclude `str`/`bytes`/`bytearray` — as it already had to, since
+`str` was always a union arm.
diff --git a/packages/zarr-metadata/src/zarr_metadata/_common.py b/packages/zarr-metadata/src/zarr_metadata/_common.py
index f3259f7b73..08c143107f 100644
--- a/packages/zarr-metadata/src/zarr_metadata/_common.py
+++ b/packages/zarr-metadata/src/zarr_metadata/_common.py
@@ -6,21 +6,14 @@
 `zarr_metadata.v3.data_type`.
 """
 
-from collections.abc import Mapping
+from collections.abc import Mapping, Sequence
 from typing import NotRequired
 
 from typing_extensions import TypeAliasType, TypedDict
 
 JSONValue = TypeAliasType(
     "JSONValue",
-    int
-    | float
-    | bool
-    | str
-    | list["JSONValue"]
-    | tuple["JSONValue", ...]
-    | Mapping[str, "JSONValue"]
-    | None,
+    int | float | bool | str | Sequence["JSONValue"] | Mapping[str, "JSONValue"] | None,
 )
 """A recursive type alias for JSON-encodable values.
 
@@ -28,6 +21,19 @@
 self-reference is a named recursion point that pydantic can resolve when
 building a `TypeAdapter`; a bare recursive `TypeAlias` raises
 `PydanticUserError`/`RecursionError` at validation time.
+
+The array arm is the covariant `Sequence` rather than the invariant
+`list["JSONValue"] | tuple["JSONValue", ...]`, so values typed with a
+*narrower* element type still count as JSON values: a `list[str]` field on a
+TypedDict is assignable to `JSONValue` under `Sequence` but not under
+`list[JSONValue]` (`list` is invariant in its element type, and pyright's
+diagnostic for that failure suggests exactly this change). This is what lets
+downstream TypedDicts give their fields precise types (`Sequence[str]`,
+`list[int]`, ...) while remaining assignable to `Mapping[str, JSONValue]`.
+The type-level cost, accepted deliberately: `Sequence` says nothing about the
+concrete container, and it admits `str`/`bytes` (`str` was already a union
+arm); runtime code narrowing a JSON array must exclude `str`/`bytes`/
+`bytearray` regardless of how this alias is spelled.
 """