diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/parquet/ParquetRowConverter.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/parquet/ParquetRowConverter.scala
index 32e6c60cd9766..a65f900f3879e 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/parquet/ParquetRowConverter.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/parquet/ParquetRowConverter.scala
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ private[parquet] class ParquetRowConverter(
       catalystType: DataType,
       updater: ParentContainerUpdater): Converter with HasParentContainerUpdater = {
 
-    catalystType match {
+    def makeConverter(): Converter with HasParentContainerUpdater = catalystType match {
       case BooleanType | IntegerType | LongType | FloatType | DoubleType | BinaryType =>
         new ParquetPrimitiveConverter(updater)
 
@@ -311,6 +311,10 @@ private[parquet] class ParquetRowConverter(
           s"Unable to create Parquet converter for data type ${t.json} " +
             s"whose Parquet type is $parquetType")
     }
+
+    ParquetUpCastConversion
+      .findUpCastConverter(schemaConverter.convertField(parquetType), catalystType, updater)
+      .getOrElse(makeConverter())
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/parquet/ParquetUpcastConversion.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/parquet/ParquetUpcastConversion.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..7febd250aab11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/parquet/ParquetUpcastConversion.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.spark.sql.execution.datasources.parquet
+
+import org.apache.parquet.io.api.Converter
+
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis.TypeCoercion
+import org.apache.spark.sql.types._
+
+private[parquet] object ParquetUpCastConversion {
+
+  // The logic for setting and adding a value in `ParquetPrimitiveConverter` are separated so that
+  // the value can be converted to a desired type. `NumericValueUpdater` updates the input numbers
+  // via `ParentContainerUpdater`.
+  private type NumericValueUpdater = Number => Unit
+
+  private def makeNumericConverter(
+      guessedType: DataType,
+      updater: ParentContainerUpdater): NumericValueUpdater => ParquetPrimitiveConverter = {
+    guessedType match {
+      case ByteType | ShortType | IntegerType | LongType | FloatType | DoubleType =>
+        (valueUpdater: NumericValueUpdater) =>
+          new ParquetPrimitiveConverter(updater) {
+            override def addInt(value: Int): Unit = valueUpdater(value)
+            override def addLong(value: Long): Unit = valueUpdater(value)
+            override def addFloat(value: Float): Unit = valueUpdater(value)
+            override def addDouble(value: Double): Unit = valueUpdater(value)
+          }
+    }
+  }
+
+  private def makeNumericUpdater(
+      catalystType: DataType,
+      updater: ParentContainerUpdater): NumericValueUpdater = catalystType match {
+    case ByteType => (v: Number) => updater.setByte(v.byteValue())
+    case ShortType => (v: Number) => updater.setShort(v.shortValue())
+    case IntegerType => (v: Number) => updater.setInt(v.intValue())
+    case LongType => (v: Number) => updater.setLong(v.longValue())
+    case FloatType => (v: Number) => updater.setFloat(v.floatValue())
+    case DoubleType => (v: Number) => updater.setDouble(v.doubleValue())
+  }
+
+  private def isUpCastableNumeric(catalystType: DataType, guessedType: DataType): Boolean = {
+
+    // Both should be numeric types and `catalystType` should be wider.
+    val isNumeric = Seq(catalystType, guessedType).forall(TypeCoercion.numericPrecedence.contains)
+
+    // We use up-cast converter only if `guessedType` is narrower than `catalystType`.
+    // If they are equal, it should falls back to a normal converter.
+    val isUpCastable =
+      TypeCoercion.numericPrecedence.lastIndexWhere(_ == catalystType) >
+        TypeCoercion.numericPrecedence.lastIndexWhere(_ == guessedType)
+
+    isNumeric && isUpCastable
+  }
+
+  def findUpCastConverter(
+      guessedType: DataType,
+      catalystType: DataType,
+      updater: ParentContainerUpdater): Option[Converter with HasParentContainerUpdater] = {
+    // These should be numeric types and up-castable.
+    if (isUpCastableNumeric(catalystType, guessedType)) {
+      val converter = makeNumericConverter(guessedType, updater)
+      val valueUpdater = makeNumericUpdater(catalystType, updater)
+      Some(converter(valueUpdater))
+    } else {
+      None
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/parquet/ParquetIOSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/parquet/ParquetIOSuite.scala
index 57a0af1dda971..a02380f132de4 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/parquet/ParquetIOSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/parquet/ParquetIOSuite.scala
@@ -767,6 +767,31 @@ class ParquetIOSuite extends QueryTest with ParquetTest with SharedSQLContext {
       assert(option.compressionCodecClassName == "UNCOMPRESSED")
     }
   }
+
+  test("SPARK-16544 Support Parquet schema compatibility with numeric types") {
+    withSQLConf(SQLConf.PARQUET_VECTORIZED_READER_ENABLED.key -> false.toString) {
+      withTempPath { file =>
+        val data = (1 to 4).map(i => (i.toByte, i.toShort, i, i.toLong, i.toFloat))
+
+        data.toDF("a", "b", "c", "d", "e").write.parquet(file.getCanonicalPath)
+
+        val schema = StructType(
+          StructField("a", ShortType, true) ::
+          StructField("b", IntegerType, true) ::
+          StructField("c", LongType, true) ::
+          StructField("d", FloatType, true) ::
+          StructField("e", DoubleType, true) :: Nil)
+
+        val df = spark.read.schema(schema).parquet(file.getAbsolutePath)
+
+        val expected = data.map { case (a, b, c, d, e) =>
+          (a.toShort, b.toInt, c.toLong, d.toFloat, e.toDouble)
+        }.toDF("a", "b", "c", "d", "e")
+
+        checkAnswer(df, expected)
+      }
+    }
+  }
 }
 
 class JobCommitFailureParquetOutputCommitter(outputPath: Path, context: TaskAttemptContext)