diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/broadcast/TorrentBroadcast.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/broadcast/TorrentBroadcast.scala
index 94142d33369c7..77c6841a144ab 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/broadcast/TorrentBroadcast.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/broadcast/TorrentBroadcast.scala
@@ -67,6 +67,9 @@ private[spark] class TorrentBroadcast[T: ClassTag](obj: T, id: Long)
   @transient private var compressionCodec: Option[CompressionCodec] = _
   /** Size of each block. Default value is 4MB.  This value is only read by the broadcaster. */
   @transient private var blockSize: Int = _
+  /** Max size of block that can be embedded, Default value is 8KB.
+    * This value is only read by the broadcaster. */
+  @transient private var embedSizeLimit : Int = _
 
   private def setConf(conf: SparkConf) {
     compressionCodec = if (conf.getBoolean("spark.broadcast.compress", true)) {
@@ -75,6 +78,7 @@ private[spark] class TorrentBroadcast[T: ClassTag](obj: T, id: Long)
       None
     }
     blockSize = conf.getInt("spark.broadcast.blockSize", 4096) * 1024
+    embedSizeLimit = conf.getInt("spark.broadcast.embedSizeLimit", 8) * 1024
   }
   setConf(SparkEnv.get.conf)
 
@@ -83,6 +87,12 @@ private[spark] class TorrentBroadcast[T: ClassTag](obj: T, id: Long)
   /** Total number of blocks this broadcast variable contains. */
   private val numBlocks: Int = writeBlocks(obj)
 
+  /**
+   * Embed the serialized object into Broadcast to reduce the overhead of RPC when the object
+   * is small enough.
+   */
+  private var embeddedBlock: Array[Byte] = _
+
   override protected def getValue() = {
     _value
   }
@@ -99,12 +109,19 @@ private[spark] class TorrentBroadcast[T: ClassTag](obj: T, id: Long)
       tellMaster = false)
     val blocks =
       TorrentBroadcast.blockifyObject(value, blockSize, SparkEnv.get.serializer, compressionCodec)
-    blocks.zipWithIndex.foreach { case (block, i) =>
-      SparkEnv.get.blockManager.putBytes(
-        BroadcastBlockId(id, "piece" + i),
-        block,
-        StorageLevel.MEMORY_AND_DISK_SER,
-        tellMaster = true)
+    assert(blocks.length > 0, "should have at least one block")
+
+    if (blocks.size == 1 && blocks(0).limit < embedSizeLimit) {
+        // embed small object inside Broadcast to avoid RPC
+        embeddedBlock = blocks(0).array()
+    } else {
+      blocks.zipWithIndex.foreach { case (block, i) =>
+        SparkEnv.get.blockManager.putBytes(
+          BroadcastBlockId(id, "piece" + i),
+          block,
+          StorageLevel.MEMORY_AND_DISK_SER,
+          tellMaster = true)
+      }
     }
     blocks.length
   }
@@ -114,6 +131,12 @@ private[spark] class TorrentBroadcast[T: ClassTag](obj: T, id: Long)
     // Fetch chunks of data. Note that all these chunks are stored in the BlockManager and reported
     // to the driver, so other executors can pull these chunks from this executor as well.
     val blocks = new Array[ByteBuffer](numBlocks)
+    if (embeddedBlock != null) {
+      // get blocks from embedded one
+      blocks(0) = ByteBuffer.wrap(embeddedBlock)
+      embeddedBlock = null  // release
+      return blocks
+    }
     val bm = SparkEnv.get.blockManager
 
     for (pid <- Random.shuffle(Seq.range(0, numBlocks))) {
@@ -184,12 +207,12 @@ private[spark] class TorrentBroadcast[T: ClassTag](obj: T, id: Long)
       }
     }
   }
-
 }
 
 
 private object TorrentBroadcast extends Logging {
 
+
   def blockifyObject[T: ClassTag](
       obj: T,
       blockSize: Int,
@@ -207,7 +230,9 @@ private object TorrentBroadcast extends Logging {
       blocks: Array[ByteBuffer],
       serializer: Serializer,
       compressionCodec: Option[CompressionCodec]): T = {
-    require(blocks.nonEmpty, "Cannot unblockify an empty array of blocks")
+    if (blocks.isEmpty) {
+      throw new IOException("Cannot unblockify an empty array of blocks")
+    }
     val is = new SequenceInputStream(
       asJavaEnumeration(blocks.iterator.map(block => new ByteBufferInputStream(block))))
     val in: InputStream = compressionCodec.map(c => c.compressedInputStream(is)).getOrElse(is)
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/broadcast/BroadcastSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/broadcast/BroadcastSuite.scala
index b0a70f012f1f3..431087e753f8e 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/broadcast/BroadcastSuite.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/broadcast/BroadcastSuite.scala
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ class BroadcastSuite extends FunSuite with LocalSparkContext {
       new SparkContext("local", "test", broadcastConf)
     }
     val blockManagerMaster = sc.env.blockManager.master
-    val list = List[Int](1, 2, 3, 4)
+    val list = (1 to 4096).toList
 
     // Create broadcast variable
     val broadcast = sc.broadcast(list)