diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index 2e919f0df8..0112c6284a 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -1237,7 +1237,7 @@ filter.<driver>.smudge::
 gc.aggressiveDepth::
 	The depth parameter used in the delta compression
 	algorithm used by 'git gc --aggressive'.  This defaults
-	to 250.
+	to 50.
 
 gc.aggressiveWindow::
 	The window size parameter used in the delta compression
diff --git a/builtin/gc.c b/builtin/gc.c
index 5c634afc00..0b8efc9cf5 100644
--- a/builtin/gc.c
+++ b/builtin/gc.c
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ static const char * const builtin_gc_usage[] = {
 
 static int pack_refs = 1;
 static int prune_reflogs = 1;
-static int aggressive_depth = 250;
+static int aggressive_depth = 50;
 static int aggressive_window = 250;
 static int gc_auto_threshold = 6700;
 static int gc_auto_pack_limit = 50;