diff --git a/docs/structured-streaming-programming-guide.md b/docs/structured-streaming-programming-guide.md
index d425bcc1256f6..0940b7eccfbb4 100644
--- a/docs/structured-streaming-programming-guide.md
+++ b/docs/structured-streaming-programming-guide.md
@@ -536,6 +536,11 @@ Here are the details of all the sources in Spark.
         href="api/R/read.stream.html">R</a>).
         E.g. for "parquet" format options see <code>DataStreamReader.parquet()</code>.
         <br/><br/>
+        <code>ignoreFileStreamSinkMetadata</code>: whether to ignore metadata information being left from file stream sink, which leads to always use in-memory file index. (default: false)
+        <br/>
+        This option is useful when metadata grows too big and reading metadata is even slower than listing files from filesystem.<br/>
+        NOTE: This option must be set to "true" if file source is reading from output files which file stream sink is written, with setting "retainOnlyLastBatchInMetadata" option to "true".
+        <br/><br/>
         In addition, there are session configurations that affect certain file-formats. See the <a href="sql-programming-guide.html">SQL Programming Guide</a> for more details. E.g., for "parquet", see <a href="sql-data-sources-parquet.html#configuration">Parquet configuration</a> section.
         </td>
     <td>Yes</td>
@@ -1812,6 +1817,12 @@ Here are the details of all the sinks in Spark.
         (<a href="api/scala/index.html#org.apache.spark.sql.DataFrameWriter">Scala</a>/<a href="api/java/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameWriter.html">Java</a>/<a href="api/python/pyspark.sql.html#pyspark.sql.DataFrameWriter">Python</a>/<a
         href="api/R/write.stream.html">R</a>).
         E.g. for "parquet" format options see <code>DataFrameWriter.parquet()</code>
+        <br/>
+        <code>retainOnlyLastBatchInMetadata</code>: whether to retain metadata information only for last succeed batch.
+        <br/><br/>
+        This option greatly reduces overhead on compacting metadata files which would be non-trivial when query processes lots of files in each batch.<br/>
+        NOTE: As it only retains the last batch in metadata, the metadata is not readable from file source: you must set "ignoreFileStreamSinkMetadata" option
+        to "true" when reading sink's output files from another query, regardless of batch and streaming source.
     </td>
     <td>Yes (exactly-once)</td>
     <td>Supports writes to partitioned tables. Partitioning by time may be useful.</td>
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/DataSource.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/DataSource.scala
index 10dae8a55b47a..239a265bef369 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/DataSource.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/DataSource.scala
@@ -344,8 +344,9 @@ case class DataSource(
       // We are reading from the results of a streaming query. Load files from the metadata log
       // instead of listing them using HDFS APIs.
       case (format: FileFormat, _)
-          if FileStreamSink.hasMetadata(
-            caseInsensitiveOptions.get("path").toSeq ++ paths,
+          if !caseInsensitiveOptions.getOrElse(
+            "ignoreFileStreamSinkMetadata", "false").toBoolean &&
+            FileStreamSink.hasMetadata(caseInsensitiveOptions.get("path").toSeq ++ paths,
             sparkSession.sessionState.newHadoopConf()) =>
         val basePath = new Path((caseInsensitiveOptions.get("path").toSeq ++ paths).head)
         val fileCatalog = new MetadataLogFileIndex(sparkSession, basePath, userSpecifiedSchema)
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/FileStreamOptions.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/FileStreamOptions.scala
index 1d57cb084df9e..95ae7caae6b05 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/FileStreamOptions.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/FileStreamOptions.scala
@@ -74,6 +74,12 @@ class FileStreamOptions(parameters: CaseInsensitiveMap[String]) extends Logging
    */
   val fileNameOnly: Boolean = withBooleanParameter("fileNameOnly", false)
 
+  /**
+   * Whether to ignore FileStreamSink metadata in source, which leads to use in-memory file index.
+   */
+  val ignoreFileStreamSinkMetadata: Boolean = withBooleanParameter("ignoreFileStreamSinkMetadata",
+    default = false)
+
   private def withBooleanParameter(name: String, default: Boolean) = {
     parameters.get(name).map { str =>
       try {
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/FileStreamSink.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/FileStreamSink.scala
index b3d12f67b5d63..daba013fcda86 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/FileStreamSink.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/FileStreamSink.scala
@@ -97,6 +97,8 @@ class FileStreamSink(
   private val fileLog =
     new FileStreamSinkLog(FileStreamSinkLog.VERSION, sparkSession, logPath.toUri.toString)
   private val hadoopConf = sparkSession.sessionState.newHadoopConf()
+  private val retainOnlyLastBatchInMetadata: Boolean =
+    options.getOrElse("retainOnlyLastBatchInMetadata", "false").toBoolean
 
   private def basicWriteJobStatsTracker: BasicWriteJobStatsTracker = {
     val serializableHadoopConf = new SerializableConfiguration(hadoopConf)
@@ -114,7 +116,7 @@ class FileStreamSink(
 
       committer match {
         case manifestCommitter: ManifestFileCommitProtocol =>
-          manifestCommitter.setupManifestOptions(fileLog, batchId)
+          manifestCommitter.setupManifestOptions(fileLog, batchId, retainOnlyLastBatchInMetadata)
         case _ =>  // Do nothing
       }
 
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/FileStreamSource.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/FileStreamSource.scala
index 103fa7ce9066d..c43c09b6602e5 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/FileStreamSource.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/FileStreamSource.scala
@@ -184,8 +184,14 @@ class FileStreamSource(
    * Some(true)  means we know for sure the source DOES have metadata
    * Some(false) means we know for sure the source DOSE NOT have metadata
    */
-  @volatile private[sql] var sourceHasMetadata: Option[Boolean] =
-    if (SparkHadoopUtil.get.isGlobPath(new Path(path))) Some(false) else None
+  @volatile private[sql] var sourceHasMetadata: Option[Boolean] = {
+    if (sourceOptions.ignoreFileStreamSinkMetadata ||
+      SparkHadoopUtil.get.isGlobPath(new Path(path))) {
+      Some(false)
+    } else {
+      None
+    }
+  }
 
   private def allFilesUsingInMemoryFileIndex() = {
     val globbedPaths = SparkHadoopUtil.get.globPathIfNecessary(fs, qualifiedBasePath)
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/ManifestFileCommitProtocol.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/ManifestFileCommitProtocol.scala
index 92191c8b64b72..2132dd3687746 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/ManifestFileCommitProtocol.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/ManifestFileCommitProtocol.scala
@@ -42,14 +42,19 @@ class ManifestFileCommitProtocol(jobId: String, path: String)
 
   @transient private var fileLog: FileStreamSinkLog = _
   private var batchId: Long = _
+  private var retainOnlyLastBatch: Boolean = _
 
   /**
    * Sets up the manifest log output and the batch id for this job.
    * Must be called before any other function.
    */
-  def setupManifestOptions(fileLog: FileStreamSinkLog, batchId: Long): Unit = {
+  def setupManifestOptions(
+      fileLog: FileStreamSinkLog,
+      batchId: Long,
+      retainOnlyLastBatch: Boolean): Unit = {
     this.fileLog = fileLog
     this.batchId = batchId
+    this.retainOnlyLastBatch = retainOnlyLastBatch
   }
 
   override def setupJob(jobContext: JobContext): Unit = {
@@ -63,6 +68,10 @@ class ManifestFileCommitProtocol(jobId: String, path: String)
 
     if (fileLog.add(batchId, fileStatuses)) {
       logInfo(s"Committed batch $batchId")
+      if (retainOnlyLastBatch) {
+        // purge older than batchId, which always keep only one batch in file log
+        fileLog.purge(batchId)
+      }
     } else {
       throw new IllegalStateException(s"Race while writing batch $batchId")
     }
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/FileStreamSinkSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/FileStreamSinkSuite.scala
index ed53def556cb8..18f63fd3acda6 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/FileStreamSinkSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/FileStreamSinkSuite.scala
@@ -190,6 +190,75 @@ class FileStreamSinkSuite extends StreamTest {
     }
   }
 
+  test("SPARK-24295 retain only last batch for file log metadata") {
+    val inputData = MemoryStream[Long]
+    val inputDF = inputData.toDF.toDF("time")
+    val outputDf = inputDF
+      .selectExpr("CAST(time AS timestamp) AS timestamp")
+
+    val outputDir = Utils.createTempDir(namePrefix = "stream.output").getCanonicalPath
+    val checkpointDir = Utils.createTempDir(namePrefix = "stream.checkpoint").getCanonicalPath
+
+    var query: StreamingQuery = null
+
+    try {
+      query =
+        outputDf.writeStream
+          .option("checkpointLocation", checkpointDir)
+          .option("retainOnlyLastBatchInMetadata", true)
+          .format("parquet")
+          .start(outputDir)
+
+      def addTimestamp(timestampInSecs: Int*): Unit = {
+        inputData.addData(timestampInSecs.map(_ * 1L): _*)
+        failAfter(streamingTimeout) {
+          query.processAllAvailable()
+        }
+      }
+
+      def check(expectedResult: Long*): Unit = {
+        val outputDf = spark.read
+          // This option must be provided when we enable 'retainOnlyLastBatchInFileLog'
+          // to purge metadata from FileStreamSink, otherwise query will fail while loading
+          // due to incomplete of metadata.
+          .option("ignoreFileStreamSinkMetadata", "true")
+          .parquet(outputDir)
+          .selectExpr("timestamp")
+          .sort("timestamp")
+        checkDataset(outputDf.as[Long], expectedResult: _*)
+      }
+
+      val logPath = new Path(outputDir, FileStreamSink.metadataDir)
+      val fileLog = new FileStreamSinkLog(FileStreamSinkLog.VERSION, spark, logPath.toUri.toString)
+
+      addTimestamp(100)
+      check(100)
+
+      // only new batch is retained, hence length should be 1
+      assert(fileLog.get(None, None).length == 1)
+      assert(fileLog.get(None, None).head._1 === 0)
+
+      addTimestamp(104, 123)
+      check(100, 104, 123)
+
+      // only new batch is retained, hence length should be 1
+      assert(fileLog.get(None, None).length === 1)
+      assert(fileLog.get(None, None).head._1 === 1)
+
+      addTimestamp(140)
+      check(100, 104, 123, 140)
+
+      // only new batch is retained, hence length should be 1
+      assert(fileLog.get(None, None).length === 1)
+      assert(fileLog.get(None, None).head._1 === 2)
+
+    } finally {
+      if (query != null) {
+        query.stop()
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   test("partitioned writing and batch reading with 'basePath'") {
     withTempDir { outputDir =>
       withTempDir { checkpointDir =>
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/FileStreamSourceSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/FileStreamSourceSuite.scala
index 9235c6d7c896f..a6de2a7aade18 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/FileStreamSourceSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/FileStreamSourceSuite.scala
@@ -908,6 +908,56 @@ class FileStreamSourceSuite extends FileStreamSourceTest {
     }
   }
 
+  test("ignore metadata when reading data from outputs of another streaming query") {
+    withTempDirs { case (outputDir, checkpointDir) =>
+      // q1 is a streaming query that reads from memory and writes to text files
+      val q1Source = MemoryStream[String]
+      val q1 =
+        q1Source
+          .toDF()
+          .writeStream
+          .option("checkpointLocation", checkpointDir.getCanonicalPath)
+          .format("text")
+          .start(outputDir.getCanonicalPath)
+
+      // q2 is a streaming query that reads q1's text outputs
+      // even q1 is supposed to store metadata in output location, we intend to ignore it
+      val q2 =
+        createFileStream("text", outputDir.getCanonicalPath,
+          options = Map("ignoreFileStreamSinkMetadata" -> "true"))
+          .filter($"value" contains "keep")
+
+      def q1AddData(data: String*): StreamAction =
+        Execute { _ =>
+          q1Source.addData(data)
+          q1.processAllAvailable()
+        }
+      def q2ProcessAllAvailable(): StreamAction = Execute { q2 => q2.processAllAvailable() }
+
+      testStream(q2)(
+        // batch 0
+        q1AddData("drop1", "keep2"),
+        q2ProcessAllAvailable(),
+        CheckAnswer("keep2"),
+
+        // batch 1
+        Assert {
+          // create a text file that won't be on q1's sink log
+          // given we are ignoring sink metadata, the content should appear in q2's answer
+          val shouldNotKeep = new File(outputDir, "keep.txt")
+          stringToFile(shouldNotKeep, "keep")
+          shouldNotKeep.exists()
+        },
+        q1AddData("keep3"),
+        q2ProcessAllAvailable(),
+        // here we should see "keep", whereas with metadata index, it should not appear
+        CheckAnswer("keep", "keep2", "keep3"),
+
+        Execute { _ => q1.stop() }
+      )
+    }
+  }
+
   test("start before another streaming query, and read its output") {
     withTempDirs { case (outputDir, checkpointDir) =>
       // q1 is a streaming query that reads from memory and writes to text files