diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-maven-plugin/src/intTest/java/org/springframework/boot/maven/AotTests.java b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-maven-plugin/src/intTest/java/org/springframework/boot/maven/AotTests.java
index 3a6469ab53..fa8c356b6a 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-maven-plugin/src/intTest/java/org/springframework/boot/maven/AotTests.java
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-maven-plugin/src/intTest/java/org/springframework/boot/maven/AotTests.java
@@ -114,6 +114,15 @@ public class AotTests {
 		});
 	}
 
+	@TestTemplate
+	void whenAotRunsWithReleaseSourcesAreGenerated(MavenBuild mavenBuild) {
+		mavenBuild.project("aot-release").goals("package").execute((project) -> {
+			Path aotDirectory = project.toPath().resolve("target/spring-aot/main");
+			assertThat(collectRelativePaths(aotDirectory.resolve("sources")))
+					.contains(Path.of("org", "test", "SampleApplication__ApplicationContextInitializer.java"));
+		});
+	}
+
 	@TestTemplate
 	void whenAotRunsWithInvalidCompilerArgumentsCompileFails(MavenBuild mavenBuild) {
 		mavenBuild.project("aot-compiler-arguments").goals("package").executeAndFail(
diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-maven-plugin/src/intTest/projects/aot-release/pom.xml b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-maven-plugin/src/intTest/projects/aot-release/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1adf8fa66e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-maven-plugin/src/intTest/projects/aot-release/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+	<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+	<groupId>org.springframework.boot.maven.it</groupId>
+	<artifactId>aot</artifactId>
+	<version>0.0.1.BUILD-SNAPSHOT</version>
+	<properties>
+		<project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
+		<maven.compiler.source>@java.version@</maven.compiler.source>
+		<maven.compiler.target>@java.version@</maven.compiler.target>
+		<maven.compiler.release>@java.version@</maven.compiler.release>
+	</properties>
+	<build>
+		<plugins>
+			<plugin>
+				<groupId>@project.groupId@</groupId>
+				<artifactId>@project.artifactId@</artifactId>
+				<version>@project.version@</version>
+				<executions>
+					<execution>
+						<goals>
+							<goal>process-aot</goal>
+						</goals>
+					</execution>
+				</executions>
+			</plugin>
+		</plugins>
+	</build>
+	<dependencies>
+		<dependency>
+			<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
+			<artifactId>spring-boot</artifactId>
+			<version>@project.version@</version>
+		</dependency>
+		<dependency>
+			<groupId>jakarta.servlet</groupId>
+			<artifactId>jakarta.servlet-api</artifactId>
+			<version>@jakarta-servlet.version@</version>
+			<scope>provided</scope>
+		</dependency>
+	</dependencies>
+</project>
diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-maven-plugin/src/intTest/projects/aot-release/src/main/java/org/test/SampleApplication.java b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-maven-plugin/src/intTest/projects/aot-release/src/main/java/org/test/SampleApplication.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d8ccd2df1c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-maven-plugin/src/intTest/projects/aot-release/src/main/java/org/test/SampleApplication.java
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2012-2022 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.test;
+
+import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
+import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
+import org.springframework.context.annotation.Import;
+
+@Configuration(proxyBeanMethods = false)
+public class SampleApplication {
+
+	public static void main(String[] args) {
+		SpringApplication.run(SampleApplication.class, args);
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/maven/AbstractAotMojo.java b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/maven/AbstractAotMojo.java
index 41d6038630..70696629de 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/maven/AbstractAotMojo.java
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/maven/AbstractAotMojo.java
@@ -136,15 +136,17 @@ public abstract class AbstractAotMojo extends AbstractDependencyFilterMojo {
 			options.add(ClasspathBuilder.build(Arrays.asList(classPath)));
 			options.add("-d");
 			options.add(outputDirectory.toPath().toAbsolutePath().toString());
-			options.add("--source");
-			options.add(compilerConfiguration.getSourceMajorVersion());
-			options.add("--target");
-			options.add(compilerConfiguration.getTargetMajorVersion());
 			String releaseVersion = compilerConfiguration.getReleaseVersion();
 			if (releaseVersion != null) {
 				options.add("--release");
 				options.add(releaseVersion);
 			}
+			else {
+				options.add("--source");
+				options.add(compilerConfiguration.getSourceMajorVersion());
+				options.add("--target");
+				options.add(compilerConfiguration.getTargetMajorVersion());
+			}
 			options.addAll(new RunArguments(this.compilerArguments).getArgs());
 			Iterable<? extends JavaFileObject> compilationUnits = fileManager.getJavaFileObjectsFromPaths(sourceFiles);
 			Errors errors = new Errors();