diff --git a/datafusion/common/src/config.rs b/datafusion/common/src/config.rs
index b34c64ff8893..261c2bf435a4 100644
--- a/datafusion/common/src/config.rs
+++ b/datafusion/common/src/config.rs
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ config_namespace! {
         /// lzo, brotli(level), lz4, zstd(level), and lz4_raw.
         /// These values are not case sensitive. If NULL, uses
         /// default parquet writer setting
-        pub compression: Option<String>, default = None
+        pub compression: Option<String>, default = Some("zstd(3)".into())
 
         /// Sets if dictionary encoding is enabled. If NULL, uses
         /// default parquet writer setting
diff --git a/datafusion/sqllogictest/test_files/information_schema.slt b/datafusion/sqllogictest/test_files/information_schema.slt
index f90901021637..12aa9089a0c9 100644
--- a/datafusion/sqllogictest/test_files/information_schema.slt
+++ b/datafusion/sqllogictest/test_files/information_schema.slt
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ datafusion.execution.parquet.bloom_filter_enabled false
 datafusion.execution.parquet.bloom_filter_fpp NULL
 datafusion.execution.parquet.bloom_filter_ndv NULL
 datafusion.execution.parquet.column_index_truncate_length NULL
-datafusion.execution.parquet.compression NULL
+datafusion.execution.parquet.compression zstd(3)
 datafusion.execution.parquet.created_by datafusion
 datafusion.execution.parquet.data_page_row_count_limit 18446744073709551615
 datafusion.execution.parquet.data_pagesize_limit 1048576
diff --git a/docs/source/user-guide/configs.md b/docs/source/user-guide/configs.md
index 7fe229b4d3c6..638ac5a36b83 100644
--- a/docs/source/user-guide/configs.md
+++ b/docs/source/user-guide/configs.md
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ Environment variables are read during `SessionConfig` initialisation so they mus
 | datafusion.execution.parquet.data_pagesize_limit           | 1048576                   | Sets best effort maximum size of data page in bytes                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
 | datafusion.execution.parquet.write_batch_size              | 1024                      | Sets write_batch_size in bytes                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
 | datafusion.execution.parquet.writer_version                | 1.0                       | Sets parquet writer version valid values are "1.0" and "2.0"                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
-| datafusion.execution.parquet.compression                   | NULL                      | Sets default parquet compression codec Valid values are: uncompressed, snappy, gzip(level), lzo, brotli(level), lz4, zstd(level), and lz4_raw. These values are not case sensitive. If NULL, uses default parquet writer setting                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
+| datafusion.execution.parquet.compression                   | zstd(3)                   | Sets default parquet compression codec Valid values are: uncompressed, snappy, gzip(level), lzo, brotli(level), lz4, zstd(level), and lz4_raw. These values are not case sensitive. If NULL, uses default parquet writer setting                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
 | datafusion.execution.parquet.dictionary_enabled            | NULL                      | Sets if dictionary encoding is enabled. If NULL, uses default parquet writer setting                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
 | datafusion.execution.parquet.dictionary_page_size_limit    | 1048576                   | Sets best effort maximum dictionary page size, in bytes                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
 | datafusion.execution.parquet.statistics_enabled            | NULL                      | Sets if statistics are enabled for any column Valid values are: "none", "chunk", and "page" These values are not case sensitive. If NULL, uses default parquet writer setting                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |