diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/codec/protobuf/ProtobufDecoder.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/codec/protobuf/ProtobufDecoder.java
index 72e2a954aa8..81fa9ce5600 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/codec/protobuf/ProtobufDecoder.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/codec/protobuf/ProtobufDecoder.java
@@ -173,18 +173,6 @@ public class ProtobufDecoder extends ProtobufCodecSupport implements Decoder<Mes
 		}
 	}
 
-	/**
-	 * Use merge methods on {@link Message.Builder} to read a single message
-	 * from the given {@code DataBuffer}.
-	 * @since 7.0
-	 */
-	protected void merge(DataBuffer dataBuffer, Message.Builder builder) throws IOException {
-		ByteBuffer byteBuffer = ByteBuffer.allocate(dataBuffer.readableByteCount());
-		dataBuffer.toByteBuffer(byteBuffer);
-		builder.mergeFrom(CodedInputStream.newInstance(byteBuffer), this.extensionRegistry);
-	}
-
-
 	/**
 	 * Create a new {@code Message.Builder} instance for the given class.
 	 * <p>This method uses a ConcurrentHashMap for caching method lookups.
@@ -198,6 +186,17 @@ public class ProtobufDecoder extends ProtobufCodecSupport implements Decoder<Mes
 		return (Message.Builder) method.invoke(clazz);
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Use merge methods on {@link Message.Builder} to read a single message
+	 * from the given {@code DataBuffer}.
+	 * @since 7.0
+	 */
+	protected void merge(DataBuffer dataBuffer, Message.Builder builder) throws IOException {
+		ByteBuffer byteBuffer = ByteBuffer.allocate(dataBuffer.readableByteCount());
+		dataBuffer.toByteBuffer(byteBuffer);
+		builder.mergeFrom(CodedInputStream.newInstance(byteBuffer), this.extensionRegistry);
+	}
+
 	@Override
 	public List<MimeType> getDecodableMimeTypes() {
 		return getMimeTypes();
diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/codec/protobuf/ProtobufHttpMessageWriter.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/codec/protobuf/ProtobufHttpMessageWriter.java
index 4a132503f30..1ec9f50e3b0 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/codec/protobuf/ProtobufHttpMessageWriter.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/codec/protobuf/ProtobufHttpMessageWriter.java
@@ -95,6 +95,19 @@ public class ProtobufHttpMessageWriter extends EncoderHttpMessageWriter<Message>
 		}
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Create a new {@code Message.Builder} instance for the given class.
+	 * <p>This method uses a ConcurrentHashMap for caching method lookups.
+	 */
+	protected static Message.Builder getMessageBuilder(Class<?> clazz) throws Exception {
+		Method method = methodCache.get(clazz);
+		if (method == null) {
+			method = clazz.getMethod("newBuilder");
+			methodCache.put(clazz, method);
+		}
+		return (Message.Builder) method.invoke(clazz);
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Return the {@code MediaType} to use when the input Publisher is multivalued.
 	 * @since 7.0
@@ -118,17 +131,4 @@ public class ProtobufHttpMessageWriter extends EncoderHttpMessageWriter<Message>
 	protected void extendHeaders(ReactiveHttpOutputMessage message, Map<String, Object> hints) {
 	}
 
-	/**
-	 * Create a new {@code Message.Builder} instance for the given class.
-	 * <p>This method uses a ConcurrentHashMap for caching method lookups.
-	 */
-	protected static Message.Builder getMessageBuilder(Class<?> clazz) throws Exception {
-		Method method = methodCache.get(clazz);
-		if (method == null) {
-			method = clazz.getMethod("newBuilder");
-			methodCache.put(clazz, method);
-		}
-		return (Message.Builder) method.invoke(clazz);
-	}
-
 }