diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index c9fac6460a..619d68a35d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ We use *breaking :warning:* to mark changes that are not backward compatible (re
 
 - [#7123](https://github.com/thanos-io/thanos/pull/7123) Rule: Change default Alertmanager API version to v2.
 - [#7223](https://github.com/thanos-io/thanos/pull/7223) Automatic detection of memory limits and configure GOMEMLIMIT to match.
+- [#7283](https://github.com/thanos-io/thanos/pull/7283) Compact: *breaking :warning:* Replace group with resolution in compact downsample metrics to avoid cardinality explosion with large numbers of groups.
 
 ### Removed
 
diff --git a/cmd/thanos/compact.go b/cmd/thanos/compact.go
index 8923bd376e..f1437efc64 100644
--- a/cmd/thanos/compact.go
+++ b/cmd/thanos/compact.go
@@ -456,9 +456,9 @@ func runCompact(
 			}
 
 			for _, meta := range filteredMetas {
-				groupKey := meta.Thanos.GroupKey()
-				downsampleMetrics.downsamples.WithLabelValues(groupKey)
-				downsampleMetrics.downsampleFailures.WithLabelValues(groupKey)
+				resolutionLabel := meta.Thanos.ResolutionString()
+				downsampleMetrics.downsamples.WithLabelValues(resolutionLabel)
+				downsampleMetrics.downsampleFailures.WithLabelValues(resolutionLabel)
 			}
 
 			if err := downsampleBucket(
diff --git a/cmd/thanos/downsample.go b/cmd/thanos/downsample.go
index ec84fc3d35..a5cd5c38ed 100644
--- a/cmd/thanos/downsample.go
+++ b/cmd/thanos/downsample.go
@@ -50,16 +50,16 @@ func newDownsampleMetrics(reg *prometheus.Registry) *DownsampleMetrics {
 	m.downsamples = promauto.With(reg).NewCounterVec(prometheus.CounterOpts{
 		Name: "thanos_compact_downsample_total",
 		Help: "Total number of downsampling attempts.",
-	}, []string{"group"})
+	}, []string{"resolution"})
 	m.downsampleFailures = promauto.With(reg).NewCounterVec(prometheus.CounterOpts{
 		Name: "thanos_compact_downsample_failures_total",
 		Help: "Total number of failed downsampling attempts.",
-	}, []string{"group"})
+	}, []string{"resolution"})
 	m.downsampleDuration = promauto.With(reg).NewHistogramVec(prometheus.HistogramOpts{
 		Name:    "thanos_compact_downsample_duration_seconds",
 		Help:    "Duration of downsample runs",
 		Buckets: []float64{60, 300, 900, 1800, 3600, 7200, 14400}, // 1m, 5m, 15m, 30m, 60m, 120m, 240m
-	}, []string{"group"})
+	}, []string{"resolution"})
 
 	return m
 }
@@ -130,9 +130,9 @@ func RunDownsample(
 				}
 
 				for _, meta := range metas {
-					groupKey := meta.Thanos.GroupKey()
-					metrics.downsamples.WithLabelValues(groupKey)
-					metrics.downsampleFailures.WithLabelValues(groupKey)
+					resolutionLabel := meta.Thanos.ResolutionString()
+					metrics.downsamples.WithLabelValues(resolutionLabel)
+					metrics.downsampleFailures.WithLabelValues(resolutionLabel)
 				}
 				if err := downsampleBucket(ctx, logger, metrics, insBkt, metas, dataDir, downsampleConcurrency, blockFilesConcurrency, hashFunc, false); err != nil {
 					return errors.Wrap(err, "downsampling failed")
@@ -263,11 +263,11 @@ func downsampleBucket(
 					errMsg = "downsampling to 60 min"
 				}
 				if err := processDownsampling(workerCtx, logger, bkt, m, dir, resolution, hashFunc, metrics, acceptMalformedIndex, blockFilesConcurrency); err != nil {
-					metrics.downsampleFailures.WithLabelValues(m.Thanos.GroupKey()).Inc()
+					metrics.downsampleFailures.WithLabelValues(m.Thanos.ResolutionString()).Inc()
 					errCh <- errors.Wrap(err, errMsg)
 
 				}
-				metrics.downsamples.WithLabelValues(m.Thanos.GroupKey()).Inc()
+				metrics.downsamples.WithLabelValues(m.Thanos.ResolutionString()).Inc()
 			}
 		}()
 	}
@@ -391,7 +391,7 @@ func processDownsampling(
 	downsampleDuration := time.Since(begin)
 	level.Info(logger).Log("msg", "downsampled block",
 		"from", m.ULID, "to", id, "duration", downsampleDuration, "duration_ms", downsampleDuration.Milliseconds())
-	metrics.downsampleDuration.WithLabelValues(m.Thanos.GroupKey()).Observe(downsampleDuration.Seconds())
+	metrics.downsampleDuration.WithLabelValues(m.Thanos.ResolutionString()).Observe(downsampleDuration.Seconds())
 
 	stats, err := block.GatherIndexHealthStats(ctx, logger, filepath.Join(resdir, block.IndexFilename), m.MinTime, m.MaxTime)
 	if err == nil {
diff --git a/cmd/thanos/main_test.go b/cmd/thanos/main_test.go
index 1ced04637b..fcc394a614 100644
--- a/cmd/thanos/main_test.go
+++ b/cmd/thanos/main_test.go
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ func TestRegression4960_Deadlock(t *testing.T) {
 	testutil.Ok(t, err)
 
 	metrics := newDownsampleMetrics(prometheus.NewRegistry())
-	testutil.Equals(t, 0.0, promtest.ToFloat64(metrics.downsamples.WithLabelValues(meta.Thanos.GroupKey())))
+	testutil.Equals(t, 0.0, promtest.ToFloat64(metrics.downsamples.WithLabelValues(meta.Thanos.ResolutionString())))
 	baseBlockIDsFetcher := block.NewConcurrentLister(logger, bkt)
 	metaFetcher, err := block.NewMetaFetcher(nil, block.FetcherConcurrency, bkt, baseBlockIDsFetcher, "", nil, nil)
 	testutil.Ok(t, err)
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ func TestCleanupDownsampleCacheFolder(t *testing.T) {
 	testutil.Ok(t, err)
 
 	metrics := newDownsampleMetrics(prometheus.NewRegistry())
-	testutil.Equals(t, 0.0, promtest.ToFloat64(metrics.downsamples.WithLabelValues(meta.Thanos.GroupKey())))
+	testutil.Equals(t, 0.0, promtest.ToFloat64(metrics.downsamples.WithLabelValues(meta.Thanos.ResolutionString())))
 	baseBlockIDsFetcher := block.NewConcurrentLister(logger, bkt)
 	metaFetcher, err := block.NewMetaFetcher(nil, block.FetcherConcurrency, bkt, baseBlockIDsFetcher, "", nil, nil)
 	testutil.Ok(t, err)
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ func TestCleanupDownsampleCacheFolder(t *testing.T) {
 	metas, _, err := metaFetcher.Fetch(ctx)
 	testutil.Ok(t, err)
 	testutil.Ok(t, downsampleBucket(ctx, logger, metrics, bkt, metas, dir, 1, 1, metadata.NoneFunc, false))
-	testutil.Equals(t, 1.0, promtest.ToFloat64(metrics.downsamples.WithLabelValues(meta.Thanos.GroupKey())))
+	testutil.Equals(t, 1.0, promtest.ToFloat64(metrics.downsamples.WithLabelValues(meta.Thanos.ResolutionString())))
 
 	_, err = os.Stat(dir)
 	testutil.Assert(t, os.IsNotExist(err), "index cache dir should not exist at the end of execution")