diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/array/data.h b/cpp/src/arrow/array/data.h
index 1e6ee9a1d32ff..fbc1e6d23e7c4 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/array/data.h
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/array/data.h
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include <memory>
 #include <utility>
 #include <vector>
+#include <arrow/util/range.h>
 
 #include "arrow/array/statistics.h"
 #include "arrow/buffer.h"
@@ -232,6 +233,20 @@ struct ARROW_EXPORT ArrayData {
     return null_count.load() != length;
   }
 
+  Status AlignBuffers() {
+    // align buffers according to their data type's layout
+    for (auto&& [buffer, layout] : internal::Zip(buffers, type->layout().buffers)) {
+      if (layout.kind == DataTypeLayout::FIXED_WIDTH && buffer->address() % layout.byte_width) {
+        RETURN_NOT_OK(Buffer::Copy(buffer, buffer->memory_manager()).Value(&buffer));
+      }
+    }
+    // align children data recursively
+    for (unsigned int i=0; i<child_data.size(); i++) {
+      RETURN_NOT_OK(child_data[i]->AlignBuffers());
+    }
+    return Status::OK();
+  }
+
   // Access a buffer's data as a typed C pointer
   template <typename T>
   inline const T* GetValues(int i, int64_t absolute_offset) const {
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/ipc/options.h b/cpp/src/arrow/ipc/options.h
index 48b6758212bd5..e6a690b3590d2 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/ipc/options.h
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/ipc/options.h
@@ -161,6 +161,11 @@ struct ARROW_EXPORT IpcReadOptions {
   /// RecordBatchStreamReader and StreamDecoder classes.
   bool ensure_native_endian = true;
 
+  /// \brief Whether to align incoming data if mis-aligned
+  ///
+  /// Received mis-aligned data is copied to aligned memory locations.
+  bool ensure_memory_alignment = true;
+
   /// \brief Options to control caching behavior when pre-buffering is requested
   ///
   /// The lazy property will always be reset to true to deliver the expected behavior
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/ipc/reader.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/ipc/reader.cc
index 98214c1debb86..8b1861a39a748 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/ipc/reader.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/ipc/reader.cc
@@ -601,6 +601,9 @@ Result<std::shared_ptr<RecordBatch>> LoadRecordBatchSubset(
         return Status::IOError("Array length did not match record batch length");
       }
       columns[i] = std::move(column);
+      if (context.options.ensure_memory_alignment) {
+        RETURN_NOT_OK(columns[i]->AlignBuffers());
+      }
       if (inclusion_mask) {
         filtered_columns.push_back(columns[i]);
         filtered_fields.push_back(schema->field(i));
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/includes/libarrow.pxd b/python/pyarrow/includes/libarrow.pxd
index 8e6922a912a32..c9c01023b5942 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/includes/libarrow.pxd
+++ b/python/pyarrow/includes/libarrow.pxd
@@ -1810,6 +1810,7 @@ cdef extern from "arrow/ipc/api.h" namespace "arrow::ipc" nogil:
         vector[int] included_fields
         c_bool use_threads
         c_bool ensure_native_endian
+        c_bool ensure_memory_alignment
 
         @staticmethod
         CIpcReadOptions Defaults()
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/ipc.pxi b/python/pyarrow/ipc.pxi
index e15b0ea40ed2e..60f0ef61dfcaa 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/ipc.pxi
+++ b/python/pyarrow/ipc.pxi
@@ -120,6 +120,8 @@ cdef class IpcReadOptions(_Weakrefable):
     ----------
     ensure_native_endian : bool, default True
         Whether to convert incoming data to platform-native endianness.
+    ensure_memory_alignment : bool, default True
+        Whether to align incoming data if mis-aligned.
     use_threads : bool
         Whether to use the global CPU thread pool to parallelize any
         computational tasks like decompression
@@ -133,9 +135,11 @@ cdef class IpcReadOptions(_Weakrefable):
     # cdef block is in lib.pxd
 
     def __init__(self, *, bint ensure_native_endian=True,
+                 bint ensure_memory_alignment=True,
                  bint use_threads=True, list included_fields=None):
         self.c_options = CIpcReadOptions.Defaults()
         self.ensure_native_endian = ensure_native_endian
+        self.ensure_memory_alignment = ensure_memory_alignment
         self.use_threads = use_threads
         if included_fields is not None:
             self.included_fields = included_fields
@@ -148,6 +152,14 @@ cdef class IpcReadOptions(_Weakrefable):
     def ensure_native_endian(self, bint value):
         self.c_options.ensure_native_endian = value
 
+    @property
+    def ensure_memory_alignment(self):
+        return self.c_options.ensure_memory_alignment
+
+    @ensure_memory_alignment.setter
+    def ensure_memory_alignment(self, bint value):
+        self.c_options.ensure_memory_alignment = value
+
     @property
     def use_threads(self):
         return self.c_options.use_threads
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/tests/test_ipc.py b/python/pyarrow/tests/test_ipc.py
index 4be5792a92f6d..11f4e8ec2f3ec 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/tests/test_ipc.py
+++ b/python/pyarrow/tests/test_ipc.py
@@ -548,11 +548,16 @@ def test_read_options():
     options = pa.ipc.IpcReadOptions()
     assert options.use_threads is True
     assert options.ensure_native_endian is True
+    assert options.ensure_memory_alignment is True
+    assert options.ens is True
     assert options.included_fields == []
 
     options.ensure_native_endian = False
     assert options.ensure_native_endian is False
 
+    options.ensure_memory_alignment = False
+    assert options.ensure_memory_alignment is False
+
     options.use_threads = False
     assert options.use_threads is False
 
@@ -564,10 +569,11 @@ def test_read_options():
 
     options = pa.ipc.IpcReadOptions(
         use_threads=False, ensure_native_endian=False,
-        included_fields=[1]
+        ensure_memory_alignment=False, included_fields=[1]
     )
     assert options.use_threads is False
     assert options.ensure_native_endian is False
+    assert options.ensure_memory_alignment is False
     assert options.included_fields == [1]