diff --git a/common/network-shuffle/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/shuffle/ExternalShuffleBlockResolver.java b/common/network-shuffle/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/shuffle/ExternalShuffleBlockResolver.java
index 58fb17f60a..0b7a274023 100644
--- a/common/network-shuffle/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/shuffle/ExternalShuffleBlockResolver.java
+++ b/common/network-shuffle/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/shuffle/ExternalShuffleBlockResolver.java
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentMap;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
 import java.util.concurrent.Executor;
 import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+import java.util.regex.Matcher;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonCreator;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
@@ -59,6 +61,7 @@ public class ExternalShuffleBlockResolver {
   private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ExternalShuffleBlockResolver.class);
 
   private static final ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
+
   /**
    * This a common prefix to the key for each app registration we stick in leveldb, so they
    * are easy to find, since leveldb lets you search based on prefix.
@@ -66,6 +69,8 @@ public class ExternalShuffleBlockResolver {
   private static final String APP_KEY_PREFIX = "AppExecShuffleInfo";
   private static final StoreVersion CURRENT_VERSION = new StoreVersion(1, 0);
 
+  private static final Pattern MULTIPLE_SEPARATORS = Pattern.compile(File.separator + "{2,}");
+
   // Map containing all registered executors' metadata.
   @VisibleForTesting
   final ConcurrentMap<AppExecId, ExecutorShuffleInfo> executors;
@@ -302,7 +307,8 @@ public class ExternalShuffleBlockResolver {
     int hash = JavaUtils.nonNegativeHash(filename);
     String localDir = localDirs[hash % localDirs.length];
     int subDirId = (hash / localDirs.length) % subDirsPerLocalDir;
-    return new File(new File(localDir, String.format("%02x", subDirId)), filename);
+    return new File(createNormalizedInternedPathname(
+        localDir, String.format("%02x", subDirId), filename));
   }
 
   void close() {
@@ -315,6 +321,28 @@ public class ExternalShuffleBlockResolver {
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * This method is needed to avoid the situation when multiple File instances for the
+   * same pathname "foo/bar" are created, each with a separate copy of the "foo/bar" String.
+   * According to measurements, in some scenarios such duplicate strings may waste a lot
+   * of memory (~ 10% of the heap). To avoid that, we intern the pathname, and before that
+   * we make sure that it's in a normalized form (contains no "//", "///" etc.) Otherwise,
+   * the internal code in java.io.File would normalize it later, creating a new "foo/bar"
+   * String copy. Unfortunately, we cannot just reuse the normalization code that java.io.File
+   * uses, since it is in the package-private class java.io.FileSystem.
+   */
+  @VisibleForTesting
+  static String createNormalizedInternedPathname(String dir1, String dir2, String fname) {
+    String pathname = dir1 + File.separator + dir2 + File.separator + fname;
+    Matcher m = MULTIPLE_SEPARATORS.matcher(pathname);
+    pathname = m.replaceAll("/");
+    // A single trailing slash needs to be taken care of separately
+    if (pathname.length() > 1 && pathname.endsWith("/")) {
+      pathname = pathname.substring(0, pathname.length() - 1);
+    }
+    return pathname.intern();
+  }
+
   /** Simply encodes an executor's full ID, which is appId + execId. */
   public static class AppExecId {
     public final String appId;
diff --git a/common/network-shuffle/src/test/java/org/apache/spark/network/shuffle/ExternalShuffleBlockResolverSuite.java b/common/network-shuffle/src/test/java/org/apache/spark/network/shuffle/ExternalShuffleBlockResolverSuite.java
index 6d201b8fe8..d2072a54fa 100644
--- a/common/network-shuffle/src/test/java/org/apache/spark/network/shuffle/ExternalShuffleBlockResolverSuite.java
+++ b/common/network-shuffle/src/test/java/org/apache/spark/network/shuffle/ExternalShuffleBlockResolverSuite.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 
 package org.apache.spark.network.shuffle;
 
+import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.InputStreamReader;
@@ -135,4 +136,23 @@ public class ExternalShuffleBlockResolverSuite {
       "\"subDirsPerLocalDir\": 7, \"shuffleManager\": " + "\"" + SORT_MANAGER + "\"}";
     assertEquals(shuffleInfo, mapper.readValue(legacyShuffleJson, ExecutorShuffleInfo.class));
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testNormalizeAndInternPathname() {
+    assertPathsMatch("/foo", "bar", "baz", "/foo/bar/baz");
+    assertPathsMatch("//foo/", "bar/", "//baz", "/foo/bar/baz");
+    assertPathsMatch("foo", "bar", "baz///", "foo/bar/baz");
+    assertPathsMatch("/foo/", "/bar//", "/baz", "/foo/bar/baz");
+    assertPathsMatch("/", "", "", "/");
+    assertPathsMatch("/", "/", "/", "/");
+  }
+
+  private void assertPathsMatch(String p1, String p2, String p3, String expectedPathname) {
+    String normPathname =
+        ExternalShuffleBlockResolver.createNormalizedInternedPathname(p1, p2, p3);
+    assertEquals(expectedPathname, normPathname);
+    File file = new File(normPathname);
+    String returnedPath = file.getPath();
+    assertTrue(normPathname == returnedPath);
+  }
 }