diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/shuffle/unsafe/UnsafeShuffleExternalSorter.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/shuffle/unsafe/UnsafeShuffleExternalSorter.java
index d4db1d298e833..aaa4945eca9b2 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/shuffle/unsafe/UnsafeShuffleExternalSorter.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/shuffle/unsafe/UnsafeShuffleExternalSorter.java
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ final class UnsafeShuffleExternalSorter {
   private final ShuffleWriteMetrics writeMetrics;
 
   /** The buffer size to use when writing spills using DiskBlockObjectWriter */
-  private final int fileBufferSize;
+  private final int fileBufferSizeBytes;
 
   /**
    * Memory pages that hold the records being sorted. The pages in this list are freed when
@@ -108,8 +108,9 @@ public UnsafeShuffleExternalSorter(
     this.initialSize = initialSize;
     this.numPartitions = numPartitions;
     this.spillingEnabled = conf.getBoolean("spark.shuffle.spill", true);
-    // Use getSizeAsKb (not bytes) to maintain backwards compatibility for units
-    this.fileBufferSize = (int) conf.getSizeAsKb("spark.shuffle.file.buffer", "32k") * 1024;
+    // Use getSizeAsKb (not bytes) to maintain backwards compatibility if no units are provided
+    this.fileBufferSizeBytes = (int) conf.getSizeAsKb("spark.shuffle.file.buffer", "32k") * 1024;
+
     this.writeMetrics = writeMetrics;
     initializeForWriting();
   }
@@ -182,7 +183,7 @@ private void writeSortedFile(boolean isLastFile) throws IOException {
     // around this, we pass a dummy no-op serializer.
     final SerializerInstance ser = DummySerializerInstance.INSTANCE;
 
-    writer = blockManager.getDiskWriter(blockId, file, ser, fileBufferSize, writeMetricsToUse);
+    writer = blockManager.getDiskWriter(blockId, file, ser, fileBufferSizeBytes, writeMetricsToUse);
 
     int currentPartition = -1;
     while (sortedRecords.hasNext()) {
@@ -196,7 +197,8 @@ private void writeSortedFile(boolean isLastFile) throws IOException {
           spillInfo.partitionLengths[currentPartition] = writer.fileSegment().length();
         }
         currentPartition = partition;
-        writer = blockManager.getDiskWriter(blockId, file, ser, fileBufferSize, writeMetricsToUse);
+        writer =
+          blockManager.getDiskWriter(blockId, file, ser, fileBufferSizeBytes, writeMetricsToUse);
       }
 
       final long recordPointer = sortedRecords.packedRecordPointer.getRecordPointer();
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/FileShuffleBlockResolver.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/FileShuffleBlockResolver.scala
index 6ad427bcac7f9..6c3b3080d2605 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/FileShuffleBlockResolver.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/FileShuffleBlockResolver.scala
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ private[spark] class FileShuffleBlockResolver(conf: SparkConf)
   private val consolidateShuffleFiles =
     conf.getBoolean("spark.shuffle.consolidateFiles", false)
 
-  // Use getSizeAsKb (not bytes) to maintain backwards compatibility of on units are provided 
+  // Use getSizeAsKb (not bytes) to maintain backwards compatibility if no units are provided
   private val bufferSize = conf.getSizeAsKb("spark.shuffle.file.buffer", "32k").toInt * 1024
 
   /**
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalAppendOnlyMap.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalAppendOnlyMap.scala
index b850973145077..df2d6ad3b41a4 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalAppendOnlyMap.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalAppendOnlyMap.scala
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ class ExternalAppendOnlyMap[K, V, C](
   // Number of bytes spilled in total
   private var _diskBytesSpilled = 0L
   
-  // Use getSizeAsKb (not bytes) to maintain backwards compatibility of on units are provided
+  // Use getSizeAsKb (not bytes) to maintain backwards compatibility if no units are provided
   private val fileBufferSize = 
     sparkConf.getSizeAsKb("spark.shuffle.file.buffer", "32k").toInt * 1024
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalSorter.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalSorter.scala
index 7d5cf7b61e56a..3b9d14f9372b6 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalSorter.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalSorter.scala
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ private[spark] class ExternalSorter[K, V, C](
   private val conf = SparkEnv.get.conf
   private val spillingEnabled = conf.getBoolean("spark.shuffle.spill", true)
   
-  // Use getSizeAsKb (not bytes) to maintain backwards compatibility of on units are provided
+  // Use getSizeAsKb (not bytes) to maintain backwards compatibility if no units are provided
   private val fileBufferSize = conf.getSizeAsKb("spark.shuffle.file.buffer", "32k").toInt * 1024
   private val transferToEnabled = conf.getBoolean("spark.file.transferTo", true)