diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/Dataset.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/Dataset.scala
index 6d18d411615c..600b383a1e66 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/Dataset.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/Dataset.scala
@@ -1110,53 +1110,61 @@ class Dataset[T] private[sql](
       throw new AnalysisException("Invalid join type in joinWith: " + joined.joinType.sql)
     }
 
-    // For both join side, combine all outputs into a single column and alias it with "_1" or "_2",
-    // to match the schema for the encoder of the join result.
-    // Note that we do this before joining them, to enable the join operator to return null for one
-    // side, in cases like outer-join.
-    val left = {
-      val combined = if (!this.exprEnc.isSerializedAsStructForTopLevel) {
+    implicit val tuple2Encoder: Encoder[(T, U)] =
+      ExpressionEncoder.tuple(this.exprEnc, other.exprEnc)
+
+    val leftResultExpr = {
+      if (!this.exprEnc.isSerializedAsStructForTopLevel) {
         assert(joined.left.output.length == 1)
         Alias(joined.left.output.head, "_1")()
       } else {
         Alias(CreateStruct(joined.left.output), "_1")()
       }
-      Project(combined :: Nil, joined.left)
     }
 
-    val right = {
-      val combined = if (!other.exprEnc.isSerializedAsStructForTopLevel) {
+    val rightResultExpr = {
+      if (!other.exprEnc.isSerializedAsStructForTopLevel) {
         assert(joined.right.output.length == 1)
         Alias(joined.right.output.head, "_2")()
       } else {
         Alias(CreateStruct(joined.right.output), "_2")()
       }
-      Project(combined :: Nil, joined.right)
-    }
-
-    // Rewrites the join condition to make the attribute point to correct column/field, after we
-    // combine the outputs of each join side.
-    val conditionExpr = joined.condition.get transformUp {
-      case a: Attribute if joined.left.outputSet.contains(a) =>
-        if (!this.exprEnc.isSerializedAsStructForTopLevel) {
-          left.output.head
-        } else {
-          val index = joined.left.output.indexWhere(_.exprId == a.exprId)
-          GetStructField(left.output.head, index)
-        }
-      case a: Attribute if joined.right.outputSet.contains(a) =>
-        if (!other.exprEnc.isSerializedAsStructForTopLevel) {
-          right.output.head
-        } else {
-          val index = joined.right.output.indexWhere(_.exprId == a.exprId)
-          GetStructField(right.output.head, index)
-        }
     }
 
-    implicit val tuple2Encoder: Encoder[(T, U)] =
-      ExpressionEncoder.tuple(this.exprEnc, other.exprEnc)
+    if (joined.joinType.isInstanceOf[InnerLike]) {
+      // For inner joins, we can directly perform the join and then can project the join
+      // results into structs. This ensures that data remains flat during shuffles /
+      // exchanges (unlike the outer join path, which nests the data before shuffling).
+      withTypedPlan(Project(Seq(leftResultExpr, rightResultExpr), joined))
+    } else { // outer joins
+      // For both join sides, combine all outputs into a single column and alias it with "_1
+      // or "_2", to match the schema for the encoder of the join result.
+      // Note that we do this before joining them, to enable the join operator to return null
+      // for one side, in cases like outer-join.
+      val left = Project(leftResultExpr :: Nil, joined.left)
+      val right = Project(rightResultExpr :: Nil, joined.right)
+
+      // Rewrites the join condition to make the attribute point to correct column/field,
+      // after we combine the outputs of each join side.
+      val conditionExpr = joined.condition.get transformUp {
+        case a: Attribute if joined.left.outputSet.contains(a) =>
+          if (!this.exprEnc.isSerializedAsStructForTopLevel) {
+            left.output.head
+          } else {
+            val index = joined.left.output.indexWhere(_.exprId == a.exprId)
+            GetStructField(left.output.head, index)
+          }
+        case a: Attribute if joined.right.outputSet.contains(a) =>
+          if (!other.exprEnc.isSerializedAsStructForTopLevel) {
+            right.output.head
+          } else {
+            val index = joined.right.output.indexWhere(_.exprId == a.exprId)
+            GetStructField(right.output.head, index)
+          }
+      }
 
-    withTypedPlan(Join(left, right, joined.joinType, Some(conditionExpr), JoinHint.NONE))
+      withTypedPlan(Join(left, right, joined.joinType, Some(conditionExpr), JoinHint.NONE))
+    }
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DatasetSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DatasetSuite.scala
index dd7c38011bc9..721ce65bc61d 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DatasetSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DatasetSuite.scala
@@ -426,8 +426,17 @@ class DatasetSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext {
     val ds1 = Seq(1, 2, 3).toDS().as("a")
     val ds2 = Seq(1, 2).toDS().as("b")
 
+    val joined = ds1.joinWith(ds2, $"a.value" === $"b.value", "inner")
+
+    val expectedSchema = StructType(Seq(
+      StructField("_1", IntegerType, nullable = false),
+      StructField("_2", IntegerType, nullable = false)
+    ))
+
+    assert(joined.schema === expectedSchema)
+
     checkDataset(
-      ds1.joinWith(ds2, $"a.value" === $"b.value", "inner"),
+      joined,
       (1, 1), (2, 2))
   }
 
@@ -435,8 +444,21 @@ class DatasetSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext {
     val ds1 = Seq(1, 1, 2).toDS()
     val ds2 = Seq(("a", 1), ("b", 2)).toDS()
 
+    val joined = ds1.joinWith(ds2, $"value" === $"_2")
+
+    // This is an inner join, so both outputs fields are non-nullable
+    val expectedSchema = StructType(Seq(
+      StructField("_1", IntegerType, nullable = false),
+      StructField("_2",
+        StructType(Seq(
+          StructField("_1", StringType),
+          StructField("_2", IntegerType, nullable = false)
+        )), nullable = false)
+    ))
+    assert(joined.schema === expectedSchema)
+
     checkDataset(
-      ds1.joinWith(ds2, $"value" === $"_2"),
+      joined,
       (1, ("a", 1)), (1, ("a", 1)), (2, ("b", 2)))
   }
 
@@ -1105,6 +1127,23 @@ class DatasetSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext {
     val left = Seq(ClassData("a", 1), ClassData("b", 2)).toDS().as("left")
     val right = Seq(ClassData("x", 2), ClassData("y", 3)).toDS().as("right")
     val joined = left.joinWith(right, $"left.b" === $"right.b", "left")
+
+    val expectedSchema = StructType(Seq(
+      StructField("_1",
+        StructType(Seq(
+          StructField("a", StringType),
+          StructField("b", IntegerType, nullable = false)
+        )),
+        nullable = false),
+      // This is a left join, so the right output is nullable:
+      StructField("_2",
+        StructType(Seq(
+          StructField("a", StringType),
+          StructField("b", IntegerType, nullable = false)
+        )))
+    ))
+    assert(joined.schema === expectedSchema)
+
     val result = joined.collect().toSet
     assert(result == Set(ClassData("a", 1) -> null, ClassData("b", 2) -> ClassData("x", 2)))
   }