diff --git a/transport/src/main/java/io/netty/channel/Channel.java b/transport/src/main/java/io/netty/channel/Channel.java
index 431f378764..af8913ea60 100644
--- a/transport/src/main/java/io/netty/channel/Channel.java
+++ b/transport/src/main/java/io/netty/channel/Channel.java
@@ -69,6 +69,12 @@ import java.net.SocketAddress;
  * transport.  Down-cast the {@link Channel} to sub-type to invoke such
  * operations.  For example, with the old I/O datagram transport, multicast
  * join / leave operations are provided by {@link DatagramChannel}.
+ *
+ * <h3>Release resources</h3>
+ * <p>
+ * It is important to call {@link #close()} or {@link #close(ChannelPromise)} to release all
+ * resources once you are done with the {@link Channel}. This ensures all resources are
+ * released in a proper way, i.e. filehandles.
  */
 public interface Channel extends AttributeMap, Comparable<Channel> {