diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSUtilClient.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSUtilClient.java
index 3b09f39ee94..24235a1e31f 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSUtilClient.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSUtilClient.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import com.google.common.base.Preconditions;
 import com.google.common.collect.Maps;
 import com.google.common.primitives.SignedBytes;
+import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.crypto.key.KeyProvider;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.BlockLocation;
@@ -94,6 +95,7 @@
 import static org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.client.HdfsClientConfigKeys.DFS_HA_NAMENODES_KEY_PREFIX;
 import static org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.client.HdfsClientConfigKeys.DFS_NAMESERVICES;
 
+@InterfaceAudience.Private
 public class DFSUtilClient {
   public static final byte[] EMPTY_BYTES = {};
   private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(