diff --git a/kafka-connect-s3/src/main/java/io/confluent/connect/s3/storage/S3OutputStream.java b/kafka-connect-s3/src/main/java/io/confluent/connect/s3/storage/S3OutputStream.java
index a8afac74f..d547b6f3f 100644
--- a/kafka-connect-s3/src/main/java/io/confluent/connect/s3/storage/S3OutputStream.java
+++ b/kafka-connect-s3/src/main/java/io/confluent/connect/s3/storage/S3OutputStream.java
@@ -201,19 +201,10 @@ private void internalClose() throws IOException {
     super.close();
   }
 
-  private ObjectMetadata newObjectMetadata() {
-    ObjectMetadata meta = new ObjectMetadata();
-    if (StringUtils.isNotBlank(ssea)) {
-      meta.setSSEAlgorithm(ssea);
-    }
-    return meta;
-  }
-
   private MultipartUpload newMultipartUpload() throws IOException {
     InitiateMultipartUploadRequest initRequest = new InitiateMultipartUploadRequest(
         bucket,
-        key,
-        newObjectMetadata()
+        key
     ).withCannedACL(cannedAcl);
 
     if (SSEAlgorithm.KMS.toString().equalsIgnoreCase(ssea)