diff --git a/hdf-loader/pom.xml b/hdf-loader/pom.xml
index 78063bd3e..3c4f3e463 100644
--- a/hdf-loader/pom.xml
+++ b/hdf-loader/pom.xml
@@ -32,12 +32,6 @@
 
     <name>${project.artifactId}</name>
 
-    <properties>
-        <maven.compiler.source>17</maven.compiler.source>
-        <maven.compiler.target>17</maven.compiler.target>
-        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
-    </properties>
-
     <dependencies>
 
         <dependency>
diff --git a/mvn-defaults/pom.xml b/mvn-defaults/pom.xml
index b77688635..11be5d261 100644
--- a/mvn-defaults/pom.xml
+++ b/mvn-defaults/pom.xml
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@
 
         <javadoc.name>nosqlbench</javadoc.name>
         <jacoco.version>0.8.8</jacoco.version>
-        <maven.compiler.source>17</maven.compiler.source>
-        <maven.compiler.target>17</maven.compiler.target>
+        <maven.compiler.source>21</maven.compiler.source>
+        <maven.compiler.target>21</maven.compiler.target>
 
         <PROG>nb5</PROG>
         <maven.plugin.validation>VERBOSE</maven.plugin.validation>