diff --git a/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/options/options.go b/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/options/options.go
index 4f7dc8ec749..7955981dc23 100644
--- a/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/options/options.go
+++ b/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/options/options.go
@@ -87,6 +87,8 @@ func NewServerRunOptions() *ServerRunOptions {
 		},
 		ServiceNodePortRange: DefaultServiceNodePortRange,
 	}
+	// Overwrite the default for storage data format.
+	s.GenericServerRunOptions.DefaultStorageMediaType = "application/vnd.kubernetes.protobuf"
 	return &s
 }
 
diff --git a/federation/cmd/federation-apiserver/app/options/options.go b/federation/cmd/federation-apiserver/app/options/options.go
index 634f72675df..5413ceb6bc3 100644
--- a/federation/cmd/federation-apiserver/app/options/options.go
+++ b/federation/cmd/federation-apiserver/app/options/options.go
@@ -55,6 +55,8 @@ func NewServerRunOptions() *ServerRunOptions {
 
 		EventTTL: 1 * time.Hour,
 	}
+	// Overwrite the default for storage data format.
+	s.GenericServerRunOptions.DefaultStorageMediaType = "application/vnd.kubernetes.protobuf"
 	return &s
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/genericapiserver/server/options/server_run_options.go b/pkg/genericapiserver/server/options/server_run_options.go
index 5b2a007904a..30432d131ba 100644
--- a/pkg/genericapiserver/server/options/server_run_options.go
+++ b/pkg/genericapiserver/server/options/server_run_options.go
@@ -40,7 +40,9 @@ type ServerRunOptions struct {
 	AdmissionControlConfigFile string
 	AdvertiseAddress           net.IP
 
-	CorsAllowedOriginList       []string
+	CorsAllowedOriginList []string
+	// To enable protobuf as storage format, it is enough
+	// to set it to "application/vnd.kubernetes.protobuf".
 	DefaultStorageMediaType     string
 	DeleteCollectionWorkers     int
 	AuditLogPath                string