diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f62b8a64..6f1941f1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - Dropped box.get_safe_box function in favor of Box.substitute
 - Changed default padding in Panel from 0 to (0, 1) https://github.com/willmcgugan/rich/issues/385
 - Table with row_styles will extend background color between cells if the box has no vertical dividerhttps://github.com/willmcgugan/rich/issues/383
+- Changed default of fit kwarg in render_group() from False to True
 - Renamed rich.bar to rich.progress_bar, and Bar class to ProgressBar, rich.bar is now the new solid bar class
 
 ### Fixed
diff --git a/rich/console.py b/rich/console.py
index 2e3afe85..1044b9fa 100644
--- a/rich/console.py
+++ b/rich/console.py
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ class RenderGroup:
 
     Args:
         renderables (Iterable[RenderableType]): An iterable of renderable objects.
-
+        fit (bool, optional): Use the longest constituent renderable as the group's minimum width if ``True``, otherwise expand the group to fit the availabe space. Defaults to True.
     """
 
     def __init__(self, *renderables: "RenderableType", fit: bool = True) -> None:
@@ -271,8 +271,12 @@ class RenderGroup:
         yield from self.renderables
 
 
-def render_group(fit: bool = False) -> Callable:
-    """A decorator that turns an iterable of renderables in to a group."""
+def render_group(fit: bool = True) -> Callable:
+    """A decorator that turns an iterable of renderables in to a group.
+
+    Args:
+        fit (bool, optional): Use the longest constituent renderable as the group's minimum width if ``True``, otherwise expand the group to fit the availabe space. Defaults to True.
+    """
 
     def decorator(method):
         """Convert a method that returns an iterable of renderables in to a RenderGroup."""
diff --git a/tests/test_console.py b/tests/test_console.py
index 0dc58a13..1ff45f19 100644
--- a/tests/test_console.py
+++ b/tests/test_console.py
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ import pytest
 
 from rich import errors
 from rich.color import ColorSystem
-from rich.console import CaptureError, Console, ConsoleOptions
+from rich.console import CaptureError, Console, ConsoleOptions, render_group
+from rich.measure import measure_renderables
 from rich.pager import SystemPager
 from rich.panel import Panel
 from rich.style import Style
@@ -377,3 +378,19 @@ def test_out() -> None:
     console.begin_capture()
     console.out(*(["foo bar"] * 5), sep=".", end="X")
     assert console.end_capture() == "foo bar.foo bar.foo bar.foo bar.foo barX"
+
+
+def test_render_group_fit() -> None:
+    @render_group()
+    def renderable():
+        yield "one"
+        yield "two"
+        yield "three"  # <- largest width of 5
+        yield "four"
+
+    renderables = [renderable() for _ in range(4)]
+
+    console = Console(width=42)
+
+    min_width, _ = measure_renderables(console, renderables, 42)
+    assert min_width == 5