diff --git a/instrumentation/spring/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/spring/autoconfigure/resources/SpringResourceConfigProperties.java b/instrumentation/spring/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/spring/autoconfigure/resources/SpringResourceConfigProperties.java
index 628deeb1cdeb..2444368b66c2 100644
--- a/instrumentation/spring/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/spring/autoconfigure/resources/SpringResourceConfigProperties.java
+++ b/instrumentation/spring/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/spring/autoconfigure/resources/SpringResourceConfigProperties.java
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ public SpringResourceConfigProperties(
   public String getString(String name) {
     String value = environment.getProperty(name, String.class);
     if (value == null && name.equals("otel.exporter.otlp.protocol")) {
+      // SDK autoconfigure module defaults to `grpc`, but this module aligns with recommendation
+      // in specification to default to `http/protobuf`
       return OtlpConfigUtil.PROTOCOL_HTTP_PROTOBUF;
     }
     return value;