diff --git a/exporter/otlphttpexporter/factory.go b/exporter/otlphttpexporter/factory.go
index 78940cbfb42..31fd2ad8911 100644
--- a/exporter/otlphttpexporter/factory.go
+++ b/exporter/otlphttpexporter/factory.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 package otlphttpexporter // import "go.opentelemetry.io/collector/exporter/otlphttpexporter"
 
 import (
+	"compress/gzip"
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"net/url"
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@ func createDefaultConfig() component.Config {
 	clientConfig := confighttp.NewDefaultClientConfig()
 	clientConfig.Timeout = 30 * time.Second
 	// Default to gzip compression
-	clientConfig.Compression = configcompression.TypeGzip
+	clientConfig.Compression = configcompression.TypeWithLevel{Type: configcompression.TypeGzip, Level: gzip.DefaultCompression}
 	// We almost read 0 bytes, so no need to tune ReadBufferSize.
 	clientConfig.WriteBufferSize = 512 * 1024