diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/MapOutputTracker.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/MapOutputTracker.scala
index 127d1195226b7..beab420f6d67f 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/MapOutputTracker.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/MapOutputTracker.scala
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ private[spark] case object StopMapOutputTracker extends MapOutputTrackerMessage
 
 private[spark] class MapOutputTrackerMasterActor(tracker: MapOutputTrackerMaster, conf: SparkConf)
   extends Actor with Logging {
-  val maxAkkaFrameSize = AkkaUtils.maxFrameSize(conf) * 1024 * 1024 // MB
+  val maxAkkaFrameSize = AkkaUtils.maxFrameSizeBytes(conf)
 
   def receive = {
     case GetMapOutputStatuses(shuffleId: Int) =>
@@ -46,8 +46,8 @@ private[spark] class MapOutputTrackerMasterActor(tracker: MapOutputTrackerMaster
       val mapOutputStatuses = tracker.getSerializedMapOutputStatuses(shuffleId)
       val serializedSize = mapOutputStatuses.size
       if (serializedSize > maxAkkaFrameSize) {
-        throw new SparkException(
-          "spark.akka.frameSize exceeded! Map output statuses were %d bytes".format(serializedSize))
+        throw new SparkException(s"Map output statuses were $serializedSize bytes which " +
+          s"exceeds spark.akka.frameSize ($maxAkkaFrameSize bytes).")
       }
       sender ! mapOutputStatuses
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/executor/Executor.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/executor/Executor.scala
index e69f6f72d3275..2ea2ec29f59f5 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/executor/Executor.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/executor/Executor.scala
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ import org.apache.spark._
 import org.apache.spark.deploy.SparkHadoopUtil
 import org.apache.spark.scheduler._
 import org.apache.spark.storage.{StorageLevel, TaskResultBlockId}
-import org.apache.spark.util.Utils
+import org.apache.spark.util.{AkkaUtils, Utils}
 
 /**
  * Spark executor used with Mesos, YARN, and the standalone scheduler.
@@ -120,9 +120,7 @@ private[spark] class Executor(
 
   // Akka's message frame size. If task result is bigger than this, we use the block manager
   // to send the result back.
-  private val akkaFrameSize = {
-    env.actorSystem.settings.config.getBytes("akka.remote.netty.tcp.maximum-frame-size")
-  }
+  private val akkaFrameSize = AkkaUtils.maxFrameSizeBytes(conf)
 
   // Start worker thread pool
   val threadPool = Utils.newDaemonCachedThreadPool("Executor task launch worker")
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/AkkaUtils.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/AkkaUtils.scala
index a466102333267..d0ff17db632c1 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/AkkaUtils.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/AkkaUtils.scala
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ private[spark] object AkkaUtils extends Logging {
 
     val akkaTimeout = conf.getInt("spark.akka.timeout", 100)
 
-    val akkaFrameSize = maxFrameSize(conf)
+    val akkaFrameSize = maxFrameSizeBytes(conf)
     val akkaLogLifecycleEvents = conf.getBoolean("spark.akka.logLifecycleEvents", false)
     val lifecycleEvents = if (akkaLogLifecycleEvents) "on" else "off"
     if (!akkaLogLifecycleEvents) {
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ private[spark] object AkkaUtils extends Logging {
       |akka.remote.netty.tcp.port = $port
       |akka.remote.netty.tcp.tcp-nodelay = on
       |akka.remote.netty.tcp.connection-timeout = $akkaTimeout s
-      |akka.remote.netty.tcp.maximum-frame-size = ${akkaFrameSize}MiB
+      |akka.remote.netty.tcp.maximum-frame-size = ${akkaFrameSize}B
       |akka.remote.netty.tcp.execution-pool-size = $akkaThreads
       |akka.actor.default-dispatcher.throughput = $akkaBatchSize
       |akka.log-config-on-start = $logAkkaConfig
@@ -122,8 +122,8 @@ private[spark] object AkkaUtils extends Logging {
     Duration.create(conf.get("spark.akka.lookupTimeout", "30").toLong, "seconds")
   }
 
-  /** Returns the default max frame size for Akka messages in MB. */
-  def maxFrameSize(conf: SparkConf): Int = {
-    conf.getInt("spark.akka.frameSize", 10)
+  /** Returns the configured max frame size for Akka messages in bytes. */
+  def maxFrameSizeBytes(conf: SparkConf): Int = {
+    conf.getInt("spark.akka.frameSize", 10) * 1024 * 1024
   }
 }