diff --git a/crates/polars-core/src/utils/mod.rs b/crates/polars-core/src/utils/mod.rs
index a9f68c58693d..f9a061b6ab19 100644
--- a/crates/polars-core/src/utils/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/polars-core/src/utils/mod.rs
@@ -133,7 +133,11 @@ pub fn split_series(s: &Series, n: usize) -> PolarsResult<Vec<Series>> {
     split_array!(s, n, i64)
 }
 
-pub fn split_df_as_ref(df: &DataFrame, n: usize) -> PolarsResult<Vec<DataFrame>> {
+pub fn split_df_as_ref(
+    df: &DataFrame,
+    n: usize,
+    extend_sub_chunks: bool,
+) -> PolarsResult<Vec<DataFrame>> {
     let total_len = df.height();
     let chunk_size = std::cmp::max(total_len / n, 1);
 
@@ -155,7 +159,7 @@ pub fn split_df_as_ref(df: &DataFrame, n: usize) -> PolarsResult<Vec<DataFrame>>
             chunk_size
         };
         let df = df.slice((i * chunk_size) as i64, len);
-        if df.n_chunks() > 1 {
+        if extend_sub_chunks && df.n_chunks() > 1 {
             // we add every chunk as separate dataframe. This make sure that every partition
             // deals with it.
             out.extend(flatten_df_iter(&df))
@@ -175,7 +179,7 @@ pub fn split_df(df: &mut DataFrame, n: usize) -> PolarsResult<Vec<DataFrame>> {
     }
     // make sure that chunks are aligned.
     df.align_chunks();
-    split_df_as_ref(df, n)
+    split_df_as_ref(df, n, true)
 }
 
 pub fn slice_slice<T>(vals: &[T], offset: i64, len: usize) -> &[T] {
diff --git a/crates/polars-io/src/parquet/write.rs b/crates/polars-io/src/parquet/write.rs
index 0e6e53b7f48c..7313d80058e5 100644
--- a/crates/polars-io/src/parquet/write.rs
+++ b/crates/polars-io/src/parquet/write.rs
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ use arrow::array::{Array, ArrayRef};
 use arrow::chunk::Chunk;
 use arrow::datatypes::{ArrowDataType, PhysicalType};
 use polars_core::prelude::*;
-use polars_core::utils::{accumulate_dataframes_vertical_unchecked, split_df};
+use polars_core::utils::{accumulate_dataframes_vertical_unchecked, split_df_as_ref};
 use polars_core::POOL;
 use polars_parquet::read::ParquetError;
 use polars_parquet::write::{self, DynIter, DynStreamingIterator, Encoding, FileWriter, *};
@@ -188,28 +188,25 @@ where
 
     /// Write the given DataFrame in the writer `W`. Returns the total size of the file.
     pub fn finish(self, df: &mut DataFrame) -> PolarsResult<u64> {
-        // There are two reasons why we might want to rechunk:
-        //
-        // 1. The different columns have unaligned chunks.
-        // 2. The chunks are aligned, but very small: writing many small chunks
-        //    leads to slow writing performance. We use average estimated
-        //    in-memory size of less than 128KB as a heuristic.
-        //
-        // Neither of these _require_ converting to a single chunk, and
-        // converting to a single chunk has the downside of doubling memory
-        // usage temporarily. In contrast, converting to a series of e.g. 64MB
-        // chunks would give the same benefits without increasing memory usage
-        // meaningfully. However, converting to a single chunk is how this code
-        // already worked previously (covering case 1 only), and implementing
-        // such a chunking algorithm for unaligned chunks is non-trivial, so a
-        // single chunk is what we'll do for now.
-        if df.should_rechunk() || (df.estimated_size() / df.n_chunks() < 128 * 1024) {
-            df.as_single_chunk_par();
-        }
+        // ensures all chunks are aligned.
+        df.align_chunks();
 
         let n_splits = df.height() / self.row_group_size.unwrap_or(512 * 512);
         if n_splits > 0 {
-            *df = accumulate_dataframes_vertical_unchecked(split_df(df, n_splits)?);
+            *df = accumulate_dataframes_vertical_unchecked(
+                split_df_as_ref(df, n_splits, false)?
+                    .into_iter()
+                    .map(|mut df| {
+                        // If the chunks are small enough, writing many small chunks
+                        // leads to slow writing performance, so in that case we
+                        // merge them.
+                        let n_chunks = df.n_chunks();
+                        if n_chunks > 1 && (df.estimated_size() / n_chunks < 128 * 1024) {
+                            df.as_single_chunk_par();
+                        }
+                        df
+                    }),
+            );
         }
         let mut batched = self.batched(&df.schema())?;
         batched.write_batch(df)?;