diff --git a/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/CHANGELOG.md b/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/CHANGELOG.md
index 289cd2b1032f..d5911ec1f36b 100644
--- a/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,12 +7,14 @@
 - Add validation logic to ApplicationInsightsSampler
     ([#26546](https://github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-python/pull/26546))
 - Change default temporality of metrics to follow OTLP
-    ([#26546](https://github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-python/pull/26546))
+    ([#26924](https://github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-python/pull/26924))
 
 ### Breaking Changes
 
 - Rename local storage configuration, change default path
     ([#26891](https://github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-python/pull/26891))
+- Change default storage retention period to 48 hours
+    ([#26960](https://github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-python/pull/26960))
 
 ### Bugs Fixed
 
diff --git a/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/azure/monitor/opentelemetry/exporter/_storage.py b/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/azure/monitor/opentelemetry/exporter/_storage.py
index 74aad0629f7e..405fe8c878d0 100644
--- a/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/azure/monitor/opentelemetry/exporter/_storage.py
+++ b/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/azure/monitor/opentelemetry/exporter/_storage.py
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ def __init__(
         path,
         max_size=50 * 1024 * 1024,  # 50MiB
         maintenance_period=60,  # 1 minute
-        retention_period=7 * 24 * 60 * 60,  # 7 days
+        retention_period=48 * 60 * 60,  # 48 hours
         write_timeout=60,  # 1 minute,
         name=None,
         lease_period=60,  # 1 minute
diff --git a/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/azure/monitor/opentelemetry/exporter/export/_base.py b/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/azure/monitor/opentelemetry/exporter/export/_base.py
index 142c187a8c46..48b2b3b6a810 100644
--- a/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/azure/monitor/opentelemetry/exporter/export/_base.py
+++ b/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/azure/monitor/opentelemetry/exporter/export/_base.py
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ def __init__(self, **kwargs: Any) -> None:
             tempfile.gettempdir(), _AZURE_TEMPDIR_PREFIX, _TEMPDIR_PREFIX + temp_suffix
         )
         self._storage_directory = kwargs.get('storage_directory', default_storage_directory)  # Storage path in which to store retry files.
-        self._storage_retention_period = kwargs.get('storage_retention_period', 7 * 24 * 60 * 60)  # Retention period in seconds
+        self._storage_retention_period = kwargs.get('storage_retention_period', 48 * 60 * 60)  # Retention period in seconds (default 48 hrs)
         self._timeout = kwargs.get('timeout', 10.0)  # networking timeout in seconds
 
         config = AzureMonitorClientConfiguration(self._endpoint, **kwargs)