diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/AbstractQueryBuilder.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/AbstractQueryBuilder.java
index fb45597fb4771..f1a31db6125d2 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/AbstractQueryBuilder.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/AbstractQueryBuilder.java
@@ -78,13 +78,30 @@ public XContentBuilder toXContent(XContentBuilder builder, Params params) throws
 
     protected abstract void doXContent(XContentBuilder builder, Params params) throws IOException;
 
-    protected void printBoostAndQueryName(XContentBuilder builder) throws IOException {
+    /**
+     * Add {@code boost} and {@code query_name} to the builder.
+     * @deprecated use {@link #boostAndQueryNameToXContent}
+     */
+    @Deprecated
+    protected final void printBoostAndQueryName(XContentBuilder builder) throws IOException {
         builder.field(BOOST_FIELD.getPreferredName(), boost);
         if (queryName != null) {
             builder.field(NAME_FIELD.getPreferredName(), queryName);
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Add {@code boost} and {@code query_name} to the builder.
+     */
+    protected final void boostAndQueryNameToXContent(XContentBuilder builder) throws IOException {
+        if (boost != DEFAULT_BOOST) {
+            builder.field(BOOST_FIELD.getPreferredName(), boost);
+        }
+        if (queryName != null) {
+            builder.field(NAME_FIELD.getPreferredName(), queryName);
+        }
+    }
+
     @Override
     public final Query toQuery(SearchExecutionContext context) throws IOException {
         Query query = doToQuery(context);
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MatchQueryBuilder.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MatchQueryBuilder.java
index 36ff50db646b5..171638825ed20 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MatchQueryBuilder.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MatchQueryBuilder.java
@@ -328,15 +328,21 @@ public void doXContent(XContentBuilder builder, Params params) throws IOExceptio
         builder.startObject(fieldName);
 
         builder.field(QUERY_FIELD.getPreferredName(), value);
-        builder.field(OPERATOR_FIELD.getPreferredName(), operator.toString());
+        if (operator != Operator.OR) {
+            builder.field(OPERATOR_FIELD.getPreferredName(), operator.toString());
+        }
         if (analyzer != null) {
             builder.field(ANALYZER_FIELD.getPreferredName(), analyzer);
         }
         if (fuzziness != null) {
             fuzziness.toXContent(builder, params);
         }
-        builder.field(PREFIX_LENGTH_FIELD.getPreferredName(), prefixLength);
-        builder.field(MAX_EXPANSIONS_FIELD.getPreferredName(), maxExpansions);
+        if (prefixLength != FuzzyQuery.defaultPrefixLength) {
+            builder.field(PREFIX_LENGTH_FIELD.getPreferredName(), prefixLength);
+        }
+        if (maxExpansions != FuzzyQuery.defaultMaxExpansions) {
+            builder.field(MAX_EXPANSIONS_FIELD.getPreferredName(), maxExpansions);
+        }
         if (minimumShouldMatch != null) {
             builder.field(MINIMUM_SHOULD_MATCH_FIELD.getPreferredName(), minimumShouldMatch);
         }
@@ -344,11 +350,19 @@ public void doXContent(XContentBuilder builder, Params params) throws IOExceptio
             builder.field(FUZZY_REWRITE_FIELD.getPreferredName(), fuzzyRewrite);
         }
         // LUCENE 4 UPGRADE we need to document this & test this
-        builder.field(FUZZY_TRANSPOSITIONS_FIELD.getPreferredName(), fuzzyTranspositions);
-        builder.field(LENIENT_FIELD.getPreferredName(), lenient);
-        builder.field(ZERO_TERMS_QUERY_FIELD.getPreferredName(), zeroTermsQuery.toString());
-        builder.field(GENERATE_SYNONYMS_PHRASE_QUERY.getPreferredName(), autoGenerateSynonymsPhraseQuery);
-        printBoostAndQueryName(builder);
+        if (fuzzyTranspositions != FuzzyQuery.defaultTranspositions) {
+            builder.field(FUZZY_TRANSPOSITIONS_FIELD.getPreferredName(), fuzzyTranspositions);
+        }
+        if (lenient != MatchQueryParser.DEFAULT_LENIENCY) {
+            builder.field(LENIENT_FIELD.getPreferredName(), lenient);
+        }
+        if (false == zeroTermsQuery.equals(MatchQueryParser.DEFAULT_ZERO_TERMS_QUERY)) {
+            builder.field(ZERO_TERMS_QUERY_FIELD.getPreferredName(), zeroTermsQuery.toString());
+        }
+        if (autoGenerateSynonymsPhraseQuery == false) {
+            builder.field(GENERATE_SYNONYMS_PHRASE_QUERY.getPreferredName(), autoGenerateSynonymsPhraseQuery);
+        }
+        boostAndQueryNameToXContent(builder);
         builder.endObject();
         builder.endObject();
     }
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MatchQueryBuilderTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MatchQueryBuilderTests.java
index b1819af573a4f..f000c64807ea7 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MatchQueryBuilderTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MatchQueryBuilderTests.java
@@ -258,12 +258,33 @@ public void testSimpleMatchQuery() throws IOException {
               }
             }""";
         MatchQueryBuilder qb = (MatchQueryBuilder) parseQuery(json);
-        checkGeneratedJson(json, qb);
+        checkGeneratedJson("""
+            {
+              "match": {
+                "message": {
+                  "query": "to be or not to be",
+                  "operator": "AND",
+                  "zero_terms_query": "ALL"
+                }
+              }
+            }""", qb);
 
         assertEquals(json, "to be or not to be", qb.value());
         assertEquals(json, Operator.AND, qb.operator());
     }
 
+    public void testToXConentWithDefaults() throws IOException {
+        QueryBuilder query = new MatchQueryBuilder("foo", "bar");
+        checkGeneratedJson("""
+            {
+              "match": {
+                "foo": {
+                  "query": "bar"
+                }
+              }
+            }""", query);
+    }
+
     public void testFuzzinessOnNonStringField() throws Exception {
         MatchQueryBuilder query = new MatchQueryBuilder(INT_FIELD_NAME, 42);
         query.fuzziness(randomFuzziness(INT_FIELD_NAME));
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/NestedQueryBuilderTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/NestedQueryBuilderTests.java
index a9f121e9dc349..0dfd7a03fb260 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/NestedQueryBuilderTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/NestedQueryBuilderTests.java
@@ -178,7 +178,34 @@ public void testFromJson() throws IOException {
             }""";
 
         NestedQueryBuilder parsed = (NestedQueryBuilder) parseQuery(json);
-        checkGeneratedJson(json, parsed);
+        checkGeneratedJson("""
+              {
+              "nested" : {
+                "query" : {
+                  "bool" : {
+                    "must" : [ {
+                      "match" : {
+                        "obj1.name" : {
+                          "query" : "blue"
+                        }
+                      }
+                    }, {
+                      "range" : {
+                        "obj1.count" : {
+                          "gt" : 5,
+                          "boost" : 1.0
+                        }
+                      }
+                    } ],
+                    "boost" : 1.0
+                  }
+                },
+                "path" : "obj1",
+                "ignore_unmapped" : false,
+                "score_mode" : "avg",
+                "boost" : 1.0
+              }
+            }""", parsed);
 
         assertEquals(json, ScoreMode.Avg, parsed.scoreMode());
     }