Abstract: A low attenuation optical cable is provided. The cable includes an outer cable jacket and at least one buffer tube surrounded by the cable jacket. The cable includes a plural number of optical fibers located within the channel of the at least one buffer tube. The cable includes small sized active particles located within the buffer tube, and an average maximum outer dimension of the active particles within the buffer tube is ?50 microns. The small sized active particles reduce microbending-based attenuation otherwise seen with larger sized active particles, particularly within densely packed buffer tubes.