Deep Dive: Adaptive Query Execution (AQE).

Updated May 5, 2026

Short answer

AQE is an optimization technique that re-optimizes query plans during runtime based on actual data statistics.

Deep explanation

Introduced in Spark 3.0, AQE addresses three main issues: 1. Dynamically coalescing shuffle partitions. 2. Switching join strategies (e.g., SortMerge to Broadcast). 3. Dynamically handling skew joins.

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