diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-core/src/utils/environment.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-core/src/utils/environment.ts
index e5e3ef0847..e50318db14 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-core/src/utils/environment.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-core/src/utils/environment.ts
@@ -99,9 +99,9 @@ export const DEFAULT_ENVIRONMENT: Required<ENVIRONMENT> = {
   OTEL_PROPAGATORS: ['tracecontext', 'baggage'],
   OTEL_RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTES: '',
   OTEL_SAMPLING_PROBABILITY: 1,
-  OTEL_SPAN_ATTRIBUTE_COUNT_LIMIT: 1000,
-  OTEL_SPAN_EVENT_COUNT_LIMIT: 1000,
-  OTEL_SPAN_LINK_COUNT_LIMIT: 1000,
+  OTEL_SPAN_ATTRIBUTE_COUNT_LIMIT: 128,
+  OTEL_SPAN_EVENT_COUNT_LIMIT: 128,
+  OTEL_SPAN_LINK_COUNT_LIMIT: 128,
 };
 
 /**
diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-tracing/test/BasicTracerProvider.test.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-tracing/test/BasicTracerProvider.test.ts
index 981d7edb49..0f64753a24 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-tracing/test/BasicTracerProvider.test.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-tracing/test/BasicTracerProvider.test.ts
@@ -71,9 +71,9 @@ describe('BasicTracerProvider', () => {
     it('should construct an instance with default trace params', () => {
       const tracer = new BasicTracerProvider({}).getTracer('default');
       assert.deepStrictEqual(tracer.getActiveTraceParams(), {
-        numberOfAttributesPerSpan: 1000,
-        numberOfEventsPerSpan: 1000,
-        numberOfLinksPerSpan: 1000,
+        numberOfAttributesPerSpan: 128,
+        numberOfEventsPerSpan: 128,
+        numberOfLinksPerSpan: 128,
       });
     });
 
@@ -85,8 +85,8 @@ describe('BasicTracerProvider', () => {
       }).getTracer('default');
       assert.deepStrictEqual(tracer.getActiveTraceParams(), {
         numberOfAttributesPerSpan: 100,
-        numberOfEventsPerSpan: 1000,
-        numberOfLinksPerSpan: 1000,
+        numberOfEventsPerSpan: 128,
+        numberOfLinksPerSpan: 128,
       });
     });
 
@@ -97,9 +97,9 @@ describe('BasicTracerProvider', () => {
         },
       }).getTracer('default');
       assert.deepStrictEqual(tracer.getActiveTraceParams(), {
-        numberOfAttributesPerSpan: 1000,
+        numberOfAttributesPerSpan: 128,
         numberOfEventsPerSpan: 300,
-        numberOfLinksPerSpan: 1000,
+        numberOfLinksPerSpan: 128,
       });
     });
 
@@ -110,8 +110,8 @@ describe('BasicTracerProvider', () => {
         },
       }).getTracer('default');
       assert.deepStrictEqual(tracer.getActiveTraceParams(), {
-        numberOfAttributesPerSpan: 1000,
-        numberOfEventsPerSpan: 1000,
+        numberOfAttributesPerSpan: 128,
+        numberOfEventsPerSpan: 128,
         numberOfLinksPerSpan: 10,
       });
     });