diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/io/CompressionCodec.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/io/CompressionCodec.scala
index ef9c43ecf14f6..3a697a7d38d90 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/io/CompressionCodec.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/io/CompressionCodec.scala
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ package org.apache.spark.io
 
 import java.io.{InputStream, OutputStream}
 
+
+import com.google.common.io.Files
 import com.ning.compress.lzf.{LZFInputStream, LZFOutputStream}
 import net.jpountz.lz4.{LZ4BlockInputStream, LZ4BlockOutputStream}
 import org.xerial.snappy.{SnappyInputStream, SnappyOutputStream}
@@ -118,6 +120,7 @@ class LZFCompressionCodec(conf: SparkConf) extends CompressionCodec {
  */
 @DeveloperApi
 class SnappyCompressionCodec(conf: SparkConf) extends CompressionCodec {
+  SnappyCompressionCodec // reference companion object to trigger static block
 
   override def compressedOutputStream(s: OutputStream): OutputStream = {
     val blockSize = conf.getInt("spark.io.compression.snappy.block.size", 32768)
@@ -126,3 +129,11 @@ class SnappyCompressionCodec(conf: SparkConf) extends CompressionCodec {
 
   override def compressedInputStream(s: InputStream): InputStream = new SnappyInputStream(s)
 }
+
+object SnappyCompressionCodec {
+  // See SPARK-2881. A best-effort attempt to isolate Snappy's staging directory to an
+  // app-specific location. Since snappy reads this property in a static block, this will not
+  // work if the user has referenced Snappy classes on their own before calling into Snappy
+  // via Spark.
+  System.setProperty("org.xerial.snappy.tempdir", Files.createTempDir().getAbsolutePath)
+}