diff --git a/instrumentation/runtime-telemetry/runtime-telemetry-java8/library/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/runtimemetrics/java8/internal/ExperimentalFileDescriptor.java b/instrumentation/runtime-telemetry/runtime-telemetry-java8/library/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/runtimemetrics/java8/internal/ExperimentalFileDescriptor.java
index 72ac9939eafc..381a3b2e6a13 100644
--- a/instrumentation/runtime-telemetry/runtime-telemetry-java8/library/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/runtimemetrics/java8/internal/ExperimentalFileDescriptor.java
+++ b/instrumentation/runtime-telemetry/runtime-telemetry-java8/library/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/instrumentation/runtimemetrics/java8/internal/ExperimentalFileDescriptor.java
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ static List<AutoCloseable> registerObservers(
               .buildWithCallback(
                   observableMeasurement -> {
                     Long maxCount = maxFileDescriptorCount.get();
-                    if (maxCount != null && maxCount > 0) {
+                    if (maxCount != null && maxCount >= 0) {
                       observableMeasurement.record(maxCount);
                     }
                   }));