diff --git a/src/material/core/tokens/_density.scss b/src/material/core/tokens/_density.scss
index a3063ff10c91..7b3101c7665c 100644
--- a/src/material/core/tokens/_density.scss
+++ b/src/material/core/tokens/_density.scss
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ $_density-tokens: (
   (mdc, slider): (),
   (mdc, snackbar): (),
   (mdc, switch): (),
-  (mdc, tab): (
+  (mdc, secondary-navigation-tab): (
     container-height: (48px, 44px, 40px, 36px, 32px)
   ),
   (mdc, tab-indicator): (),
diff --git a/src/material/core/tokens/m2/_index.scss b/src/material/core/tokens/m2/_index.scss
index 5fa75c0aae3b..ea6fadb54442 100644
--- a/src/material/core/tokens/m2/_index.scss
+++ b/src/material/core/tokens/m2/_index.scss
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@
 @use './mdc/slider' as tokens-mdc-slider;
 @use './mdc/snack-bar' as tokens-mdc-snack-bar;
 @use './mdc/switch' as tokens-mdc-switch;
-@use './mdc/tab' as tokens-mdc-tab;
+@use './mdc/secondary-navigation-tab' as tokens-mdc-secondary-navigation-tab;
 @use './mdc/tab-indicator' as tokens-mdc-tab-indicator;
 @use '../../theming/inspection';
 
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@
     _get-tokens-for-module($theme, tokens-mdc-snack-bar),
     _get-tokens-for-module($theme, tokens-mdc-switch),
     _get-tokens-for-module($theme, tokens-mdc-tab-indicator),
-    _get-tokens-for-module($theme, tokens-mdc-tab),
+    _get-tokens-for-module($theme, tokens-mdc-secondary-navigation-tab),
     _get-tokens-for-module($theme, tokens-mdc-text-button)
   );
 }
diff --git a/src/material/core/tokens/m2/mdc/_tab.scss b/src/material/core/tokens/m2/mdc/_secondary-navigation-tab.scss
similarity index 98%
rename from src/material/core/tokens/m2/mdc/_tab.scss
rename to src/material/core/tokens/m2/mdc/_secondary-navigation-tab.scss
index e95c7e670280..df4b3711aa68 100644
--- a/src/material/core/tokens/m2/mdc/_tab.scss
+++ b/src/material/core/tokens/m2/mdc/_secondary-navigation-tab.scss
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 @use '../../token-utils';
 
 // The prefix used to generate the fully qualified name for tokens in this file.
-$prefix: (mdc, tab);
+$prefix: (mdc, secondary-navigation-tab);
 
 // Tokens that can't be configured through Angular Material's current theming API,
 // but may be in a future version of the theming API.
diff --git a/src/material/core/tokens/m3/_index.scss b/src/material/core/tokens/m3/_index.scss
index 2845be333830..2fa5ff4691c9 100644
--- a/src/material/core/tokens/m3/_index.scss
+++ b/src/material/core/tokens/m3/_index.scss
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@
 @use './mdc/slider' as tokens-mdc-slider;
 @use './mdc/snack-bar' as tokens-mdc-snack-bar;
 @use './mdc/switch' as tokens-mdc-switch;
-@use './mdc/tab' as tokens-mdc-tab;
+@use './mdc/secondary-navigation-tab' as tokens-mdc-secondary-navigation-tab;
 @use './mdc/tab-indicator' as tokens-mdc-tab-indicator;
 
 $_module-names: (
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ $_module-names: (
   tokens-mdc-slider,
   tokens-mdc-snack-bar,
   tokens-mdc-switch,
-  tokens-mdc-tab,
+  tokens-mdc-secondary-navigation-tab,
   tokens-mdc-tab-indicator
 );
 
diff --git a/src/material/core/tokens/m3/mdc/_tab.scss b/src/material/core/tokens/m3/mdc/_secondary-navigation-tab.scss
similarity index 93%
rename from src/material/core/tokens/m3/mdc/_tab.scss
rename to src/material/core/tokens/m3/mdc/_secondary-navigation-tab.scss
index b6b0cda33bb8..3261ec9d207f 100644
--- a/src/material/core/tokens/m3/mdc/_tab.scss
+++ b/src/material/core/tokens/m3/mdc/_secondary-navigation-tab.scss
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 @use '../../token-utils';
 
 // The prefix used to generate the fully qualified name for tokens in this file.
-$prefix: (mdc, tab);
+$prefix: (mdc, secondary-navigation-tab);
 
 /// Generates the tokens for MDC tab
 /// @param {Map} $systems The MDC system tokens
diff --git a/src/material/core/tokens/tests/test-validate-tokens.scss b/src/material/core/tokens/tests/test-validate-tokens.scss
index 46d1cd82e77e..38bb3e4bd6aa 100644
--- a/src/material/core/tokens/tests/test-validate-tokens.scss
+++ b/src/material/core/tokens/tests/test-validate-tokens.scss
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 @use '@material/radio/radio-theme' as mdc-radio-theme;
 @use '@material/switch/switch-theme' as mdc-switch-theme;
 @use '@material/tab-indicator/tab-indicator-theme' as mdc-tab-indicator-theme;
-@use '@material/tab/tab-theme' as mdc-tab-theme;
 @use '@material/snackbar/snackbar-theme' as mdc-snackbar-theme;
 @use '@material/slider/slider-theme' as mdc-slider-theme;
 @use '@material/chips/chip-theme' as mdc-chips-theme;
@@ -44,7 +43,6 @@
 @use '../m2/mdc/radio' as tokens-mdc-radio;
 @use '../m2/mdc/switch' as tokens-mdc-switch;
 @use '../m2/mdc/tab-indicator' as tokens-mdc-tab-indicator;
-@use '../m2/mdc/tab' as tokens-mdc-tab;
 @use '../m2/mdc/snack-bar' as tokens-mdc-snack-bar;
 @use '../m2/mdc/slider' as tokens-mdc-slider;
 @use '../m2/mdc/chip' as tokens-mdc-chip;
@@ -119,11 +117,6 @@
   $slots: tokens-mdc-tab-indicator.get-token-slots(),
   $reference: mdc-tab-indicator-theme.$light-theme
 );
-@include validate-slots(
-  $component: 'm2.mdc.tab',
-  $slots: tokens-mdc-tab.get-token-slots(),
-  $reference: mdc-tab-theme.$secondary-light-theme
-);
 @include validate-slots(
   $component: 'm2.mdc.snackbar',
   $slots: tokens-mdc-snack-bar.get-token-slots(),
diff --git a/src/material/tabs/_tabs-common.scss b/src/material/tabs/_tabs-common.scss
index 0db2aba1998a..8b2bdc981911 100644
--- a/src/material/tabs/_tabs-common.scss
+++ b/src/material/tabs/_tabs-common.scss
@@ -1,29 +1,86 @@
-@use '@material/ripple' as mdc-ripple;
-@use '@material/tab' as mdc-tab;
-@use '@material/tab-indicator' as mdc-tab-indicator;
-@use '@material/tab-indicator/tab-indicator-theme' as mdc-tab-indicator-theme;
-@use '@material/tab/tab-theme' as mdc-tab-theme;
-@use '@material/theme/custom-properties' as mdc-custom-properties;
-@use '../core/mdc-helpers/mdc-helpers';
 @use '../core/style/vendor-prefixes';
 @use '../core/tokens/m2/mdc/tab-indicator' as tokens-mdc-tab-indicator;
-@use '../core/tokens/m2/mdc/tab' as tokens-mdc-tab;
+@use '../core/tokens/m2/mdc/secondary-navigation-tab' as tokens-mdc-secondary-navigation-tab;
 @use '../core/tokens/m2/mat/tab-header' as tokens-mat-tab-header;
 @use '../core/tokens/m2/mat/tab-header-with-background' as tokens-mat-tab-header-with-background;
 @use '../core/tokens/token-utils';
-@use 'sass:map';
 
 
 $mat-tab-animation-duration: 500ms !default;
 
 // Combines the various structural styles we need for the tab group and tab nav bar.
 @mixin structural-styles {
-  @include mdc-custom-properties.configure(
-    $emit-fallback-values: false,
-    $emit-fallback-vars: false
-  ) {
-    @include mdc-tab.static-styles($query: mdc-helpers.$mdc-base-styles-query);
-    @include mdc-tab-indicator.static-styles($query: mdc-helpers.$mdc-base-styles-query);
+  .mdc-tab {
+    min-width: 90px;
+    padding: 0 24px;
+    display: flex;
+    flex: 1 0 auto;
+    justify-content: center;
+    box-sizing: border-box;
+    border: none;
+    outline: none;
+    text-align: center;
+    white-space: nowrap;
+    cursor: pointer;
+    z-index: 1;
+  }
+
+  .mdc-tab__content {
+    display: flex;
+    align-items: center;
+    justify-content: center;
+    height: inherit;
+    pointer-events: none;
+  }
+
+  .mdc-tab__text-label {
+    transition: 150ms color linear;
+    display: inline-block;
+    line-height: 1;
+    z-index: 2;
+  }
+
+  .mdc-tab--active .mdc-tab__text-label {
+    transition-delay: 100ms;
+  }
+
+  ._mat-animation-noopable .mdc-tab__text-label {
+    transition: none;
+  }
+
+  .mdc-tab-indicator {
+    display: flex;
+    position: absolute;
+    top: 0;
+    left: 0;
+    justify-content: center;
+    width: 100%;
+    height: 100%;
+    pointer-events: none;
+    z-index: 1;
+  }
+
+  .mdc-tab-indicator__content {
+    transition: var(--mat-tab-animation-duration, 250ms) transform cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1);
+    transform-origin: left;
+    opacity: 0;
+  }
+
+  .mdc-tab-indicator__content--underline {
+    align-self: flex-end;
+    box-sizing: border-box;
+    width: 100%;
+    border-top-style: solid;
+  }
+
+  .mdc-tab-indicator--active .mdc-tab-indicator__content {
+    opacity: 1;
+  }
+
+  ._mat-animation-noopable, .mdc-tab-indicator--no-transition {
+    .mdc-tab-indicator__content {
+      transition: none;
+    }
   }
 
   .mat-mdc-tab-ripple {
@@ -37,14 +94,6 @@ $mat-tab-animation-duration: 500ms !default;
 }
 
 @mixin tab {
-  @include mdc-custom-properties.configure(
-    $emit-fallback-values: false,
-    $emit-fallback-vars: false
-  ) {
-    @include mdc-tab-indicator-theme.theme-styles(tokens-mdc-tab-indicator.get-token-slots());
-    @include mdc-tab-theme.secondary-navigation-tab-theme-styles(tokens-mdc-tab.get-token-slots());
-  }
-
   -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent;
   -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;
   -moz-osx-font-smoothing: grayscale;
@@ -53,6 +102,13 @@ $mat-tab-animation-duration: 500ms !default;
   // Tabs might be `button` elements so we have to reset the user agent styling.
   background: none;
 
+  @include token-utils.use-tokens(
+    tokens-mdc-secondary-navigation-tab.$prefix,
+    tokens-mdc-secondary-navigation-tab.get-token-slots()
+  ) {
+    @include token-utils.create-token-slot(height, container-height);
+  }
+
   &.mdc-tab {
     // MDC's tabs stretch to fit the header by default, whereas stretching on our current ones
     // is an opt-in behavior. Also technically we don't need to combine the two classes, but
@@ -60,6 +116,17 @@ $mat-tab-animation-duration: 500ms !default;
     flex-grow: 0;
   }
 
+  .mdc-tab-indicator__content--underline {
+    @include token-utils.use-tokens(
+      tokens-mdc-tab-indicator.$prefix,
+      tokens-mdc-tab-indicator.get-token-slots()
+    ) {
+      @include token-utils.create-token-slot(border-color, active-indicator-color);
+      @include token-utils.create-token-slot(border-top-width, active-indicator-height);
+      @include token-utils.create-token-slot(border-radius, active-indicator-shape);
+    }
+  }
+
   @include token-utils.use-tokens(
     tokens-mat-tab-header.$prefix,
     tokens-mat-tab-header.get-token-slots()
@@ -185,18 +252,18 @@ $mat-tab-animation-duration: 500ms !default;
 
   // We need to handle the hover and focus indication ourselves, because we don't use MDC's ripple.
   &:hover .mdc-tab__ripple::before {
-    opacity: map.get(mdc-ripple.$dark-ink-opacities, hover);
+    opacity: 0.04;
   }
 
   &.cdk-program-focused,
   &.cdk-keyboard-focused {
     .mdc-tab__ripple::before {
-      opacity: map.get(mdc-ripple.$dark-ink-opacities, focus);
+      opacity: 0.12;
     }
   }
 
   .mat-ripple-element {
-    opacity: map.get(mdc-ripple.$dark-ink-opacities, press);
+    opacity: 0.12;
 
     @include token-utils.use-tokens(
       tokens-mat-tab-header.$prefix,
@@ -243,7 +310,7 @@ $mat-tab-animation-duration: 500ms !default;
     }
 
     .mat-ripple-element {
-      opacity: map.get(mdc-ripple.$dark-ink-opacities, press);
+      opacity: 0.12;
 
       @include token-utils.use-tokens(
         tokens-mat-tab-header.$prefix,
@@ -309,15 +376,6 @@ $mat-tab-animation-duration: 500ms !default;
       transition: none;
     }
   }
-
-  // The `span` is in the selector in order to increase the specificity, ensuring
-  // that it's always higher than the selector that declares the transition.
-  ._mat-animation-noopable {
-    span.mdc-tab-indicator__content,
-    span.mdc-tab__text-label {
-      transition: none;
-    }
-  }
 }
 
 // Structural styles for the element that wraps the paginated header items.
diff --git a/src/material/tabs/_tabs-theme.scss b/src/material/tabs/_tabs-theme.scss
index 8c53e421ffb7..348139743a32 100644
--- a/src/material/tabs/_tabs-theme.scss
+++ b/src/material/tabs/_tabs-theme.scss
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
-@use '@material/tab-indicator/tab-indicator-theme' as mdc-tab-indicator-theme;
-@use '@material/tab/tab-theme' as mdc-tab-theme;
 @use '../core/style/sass-utils';
-@use '../core/tokens/m2/mdc/tab' as tokens-mdc-tab;
+@use '../core/tokens/m2/mdc/secondary-navigation-tab' as tokens-mdc-secondary-navigation-tab;
 @use '../core/tokens/m2/mdc/tab-indicator' as tokens-mdc-tab-indicator;
 @use '../core/tokens/m2/mat/tab-header' as tokens-mat-tab-header;
 @use '../core/tokens/m2/mat/tab-header-with-background' as tokens-mat-tab-header-with-background;
@@ -20,14 +18,16 @@
   }
   @else {
     @include sass-utils.current-selector-or-root() {
-      @include mdc-tab-indicator-theme.theme(tokens-mdc-tab-indicator.get-unthemable-tokens());
-      @include mdc-tab-theme.secondary-navigation-tab-theme(tokens-mdc-tab.get-unthemable-tokens());
       @include token-utils.create-token-values(
-          tokens-mat-tab-header.$prefix, tokens-mat-tab-header.get-unthemable-tokens());
+        tokens-mdc-secondary-navigation-tab.$prefix,
+        tokens-mdc-secondary-navigation-tab.get-unthemable-tokens());
       @include token-utils.create-token-values(
-          tokens-mat-tab-header-with-background.$prefix,
-          tokens-mat-tab-header-with-background.get-unthemable-tokens()
-      );
+        tokens-mdc-tab-indicator.$prefix, tokens-mdc-tab-indicator.get-unthemable-tokens());
+      @include token-utils.create-token-values(
+        tokens-mat-tab-header.$prefix, tokens-mat-tab-header.get-unthemable-tokens());
+      @include token-utils.create-token-values(
+        tokens-mat-tab-header-with-background.$prefix,
+        tokens-mat-tab-header-with-background.get-unthemable-tokens());
     }
   }
 }
@@ -74,9 +74,12 @@
 }
 
 @mixin _palette-styles($theme, $palette-name) {
-  @include mdc-tab-theme.secondary-navigation-tab-theme(
-    tokens-mdc-tab.get-color-tokens($theme, $palette-name));
-  @include mdc-tab-indicator-theme.theme(
+  @include token-utils.create-token-values(
+    tokens-mdc-secondary-navigation-tab.$prefix,
+    tokens-mdc-secondary-navigation-tab.get-color-tokens($theme, $palette-name)
+  );
+  @include token-utils.create-token-values(
+    tokens-mdc-tab-indicator.$prefix,
     tokens-mdc-tab-indicator.get-color-tokens($theme, $palette-name));
   @include token-utils.create-token-values(tokens-mat-tab-header.$prefix,
    tokens-mat-tab-header.get-color-tokens($theme, $palette-name));
@@ -90,10 +93,11 @@
   }
   @else {
     .mat-mdc-tab-header {
-      @include mdc-tab-theme.secondary-navigation-tab-theme(
-          tokens-mdc-tab.get-typography-tokens($theme));
-      @include mdc-tab-indicator-theme.theme(
-          tokens-mdc-tab-indicator.get-typography-tokens($theme));
+      @include token-utils.create-token-values(
+        tokens-mdc-secondary-navigation-tab.$prefix,
+        tokens-mdc-secondary-navigation-tab.get-typography-tokens($theme));
+      @include token-utils.create-token-values(
+        tokens-mdc-tab-indicator.$prefix, tokens-mdc-tab-indicator.get-typography-tokens($theme));
       @include token-utils.create-token-values(tokens-mat-tab-header.$prefix,
         tokens-mat-tab-header.get-typography-tokens($theme));
       @include token-utils.create-token-values(tokens-mat-tab-header-with-background.$prefix,
@@ -110,10 +114,11 @@
   }
   @else {
     .mat-mdc-tab-header {
-      @include mdc-tab-theme.secondary-navigation-tab-theme(
-          tokens-mdc-tab.get-density-tokens($theme));
-      @include mdc-tab-indicator-theme.theme(
-          tokens-mdc-tab-indicator.get-density-tokens($theme));
+      @include token-utils.create-token-values(
+        tokens-mdc-secondary-navigation-tab.$prefix,
+        tokens-mdc-secondary-navigation-tab.get-density-tokens($theme));
+      @include token-utils.create-token-values(
+        tokens-mdc-tab-indicator.$prefix, tokens-mdc-tab-indicator.get-density-tokens($theme));
       @include token-utils.create-token-values(tokens-mat-tab-header.$prefix,
         tokens-mat-tab-header.get-density-tokens($theme));
       @include token-utils.create-token-values(tokens-mat-tab-header-with-background.$prefix,
@@ -125,14 +130,14 @@
 /// Outputs the CSS variable values for the given tokens.
 /// @param {Map} $tokens The token values to emit.
 @mixin overrides($tokens: ()) {
-  $tab-tokens: tokens-mdc-tab.get-token-slots();
+  $tab-tokens: tokens-mdc-secondary-navigation-tab.get-token-slots();
   $tab-indicator-tokens: tokens-mdc-tab-indicator.get-token-slots();
   $tab-header-tokens: tokens-mat-tab-header.get-token-slots();
   $tab-header-with-background-tokens: tokens-mat-tab-header-with-background.get-token-slots();
 
   @include token-utils.batch-create-token-values(
     $tokens,
-    (prefix: tokens-mdc-tab.$prefix, tokens: $tab-tokens),
+    (prefix: tokens-mdc-secondary-navigation-tab.$prefix, tokens: $tab-tokens),
     (prefix: tokens-mdc-tab-indicator.$prefix, tokens: $tab-indicator-tokens),
     (prefix: tokens-mat-tab-header.$prefix, tokens: $tab-header-tokens),
     (
@@ -176,8 +181,11 @@
       $tokens, tokens-mat-tab-header.$prefix, $options...);
   // Don't pass $options here, because the mdc-tab doesn't have color variants,
   // only the mdc-tab-indicator and mat-tab-header do.
-  $mdc-tab-tokens: token-utils.get-tokens-for($tokens, tokens-mdc-tab.$prefix);
-  @include mdc-tab-theme.secondary-navigation-tab-theme($mdc-tab-tokens);
-  @include mdc-tab-indicator-theme.theme($mdc-tab-indicator-tokens);
+  $mdc-secondary-navigation-tab-tokens:
+    token-utils.get-tokens-for($tokens, tokens-mdc-secondary-navigation-tab.$prefix);
+  @include token-utils.create-token-values(tokens-mdc-secondary-navigation-tab.$prefix,
+    $mdc-secondary-navigation-tab-tokens);
+  @include token-utils.create-token-values(tokens-mdc-tab-indicator.$prefix,
+    $mdc-tab-indicator-tokens);
   @include token-utils.create-token-values(tokens-mat-tab-header.$prefix, $mat-tab-header-tokens);
 }