[FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH 1/2] swscale: rgb_to_yuv neon optimizations

Martin Storsjö martin at martin.st
Fri May 30 10:07:10 EEST 2025


On Thu, 29 May 2025, Martin Storsjö wrote:

> In this case, they also add a direct dependence on 
> the updated pointer register from the directly preceding instruction, which 
> _is_ harmful on in-order cores, unless it entirely ignores the instruction.)

I did benchmark this, and indeed it causes a large slowdown on Cortex A53:

After this patch:
bgra_to_uv_8_neon:          209.0 ( 0.75x)
bgra_to_uv_128_neon:        541.5 ( 4.09x)
bgra_to_uv_1080_neon:      4584.8 ( 4.03x)
bgra_to_uv_1920_neon:      7865.9 ( 4.18x)
bgra_to_uv_half_8_neon:     112.0 ( 0.85x)
bgra_to_uv_half_128_neon:   348.8 ( 3.58x)
bgra_to_uv_half_1080_neon: 2873.6 ( 3.60x)
bgra_to_uv_half_1920_neon: 4973.5 ( 3.69x)

With the prfm instructions removed:

bgra_to_uv_8_neon:          215.3 ( 0.72x)
bgra_to_uv_128_neon:        516.5 ( 4.30x)
bgra_to_uv_1080_neon:      4387.6 ( 4.21x)
bgra_to_uv_1920_neon:      7503.5 ( 4.37x)
bgra_to_uv_half_8_neon:     111.8 ( 0.86x)
bgra_to_uv_half_128_neon:   331.8 ( 3.77x)
bgra_to_uv_half_1080_neon: 2739.1 ( 3.78x)
bgra_to_uv_half_1920_neon: 4728.9 ( 3.88x)

This is 5% faster when the prfm instructions are removed.

Since they are controversial within ffmpeg, I urge you to split the 
addition of prefetch instructions to a separate patch.

If they are scheduled where they are now, right after a postincrement load 
that updates the pointer, it is problematic for in-order cores. If you can 
schedule them elsewhere where they don't actively hurt in-order cores, we 
can maybe consider it.

>> diff --git a/libswscale/aarch64/input.S b/libswscale/aarch64/input.S
>> index c1c0adffc8..ee8eb24c14 100644
>> --- a/libswscale/aarch64/input.S
>> +++ b/libswscale/aarch64/input.S
>> @@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
>> -/*
>> - * Copyright (c) 2024 Zhao Zhili <quinkblack at foxmail.com>
>> +/* Copyright (c) 2024 Zhao Zhili <quinkblack at foxmail.com>
>
> This is an unrelated change

This comment is unaddressed

>>  *
>>  * This file is part of FFmpeg.
>>  *
>> @@ -57,20 +56,41 @@
>>         sqshrn2         \dst\().8h, \dst2\().4s, \right_shift   // 
>> dst_higher_half = dst2 >> right_shift
>> .endm
>> 
>> +// interleaved product version of the rgb to yuv gives slightly better 
>> performance on non-performant mobile
>> +.macro rgb_to_uv_interleaved_product r, g, b, u_coef0, u_coef1, u_coef2, 
>> v_coef0, v_coef1, v_coef2, u_dst1, u_dst2, v_dst1, v_dst2, u_dst, v_dst, 
>> right_shift
>> +    smlal   \u_dst1\().4s, \u_coef0\().4h, \r\().4h     // U += ru * r 
>> (first 4)
>> +    smlal   \v_dst1\().4s, \v_coef0\().4h, \r\().4h     // V += rv * r 
>> (first 4)
>> +    smlal2  \u_dst2\().4s, \u_coef0\().8h, \r\().8h     // U += ru * r 
>> (second 4)
>> +    smlal2  \v_dst2\().4s, \v_coef0\().8h, \r\().8h     // V += rv * r 
>> (second 4)
>> +
>
> The patch adds trailing whitespace here and in many other places; make sure 
> you don't do that. (It is visible by doing e.g. "git show".)

This comment is unaddressed - you still have trailing whitespace.

> Also, as a general rule, indent instructions within macros in the same way as 
> elsewhere.

The instructions are better indented now, but the operand column is still 
misindented by one space. The branch I referred you to on github does 
contain an indent checker script which would point this out.

>> +    smlal   \u_dst1\().4s, \u_coef1\().4h, \g\().4h     // U += gu * g 
>> (first 4)
>> +    smlal   \v_dst1\().4s, \v_coef1\().4h, \g\().4h     // V += gv * g 
>> (first 4)
>> +    smlal2  \u_dst2\().4s, \u_coef1\().8h, \g\().8h     // U += gu * g 
>> (second 4)
>> +    smlal2  \v_dst2\().4s, \v_coef1\().8h, \g\().8h     // V += gv * g 
>> (second 4)
>
> If you with "non-performant mobile" mean small in-order cores, most of them 
> can handle repeated accumulation like these even faster, if you sequence 
> these so that all accumulations to one register is sequentially. E.g. first 
> all "smlal \u_dst1\().4s", followed by all "smlal \u_dst2\().4s", followed by 
> \v_dst1, followed by \v_dst2. It's worth benchmarking if you do have access 
> to such cores (e.g. Cortex-A53/A55; perhaps that's also the case on the 
> Cortex-R you mentioned in the commit message).
>
> That kind of code sequence is very counterintuitive, when considering 
> instruction scheduling for an in-order core, but there is an explicit mention 
> of it in the code optimization guides for them; it's usually worthwhile to 
> test out such a form of these accumulations.

This comment is unaddressed

>
>> +
>> +    smlal   \u_dst1\().4s, \u_coef2\().4h, \b\().4h     // U += bu * b 
>> (first 4)
>> +    smlal   \v_dst1\().4s, \v_coef2\().4h, \b\().4h     // V += bv * b 
>> (first 4)
>> +    smlal2  \u_dst2\().4s, \u_coef2\().8h, \b\().8h     // U += bu * b 
>> (second 4)
>> +    smlal2  \v_dst2\().4s, \v_coef2\().8h, \b\().8h     // V += bv * b 
>> (second 4)
>> +
>> +    sqshrn  \u_dst\().4h, \u_dst1\().4s, \right_shift   // U first 4 
>> pixels
>> +    sqshrn2 \u_dst\().8h, \u_dst2\().4s, \right_shift   // U all 8 pixels
>> +    sqshrn  \v_dst\().4h, \v_dst1\().4s, \right_shift   // V first 4 
>> pixels
>> +    sqshrn2 \v_dst\().8h, \v_dst2\().4s, \right_shift   // V all 8 pixels
>> +.endm
>> +
>> .macro rgbToY_neon fmt_bgr, fmt_rgb, element, alpha_first=0
>> function ff_\fmt_bgr\()ToY_neon, export=1
>> -        cmp             w4, #0                  // check width > 0
>> +        cbz             w4, 3f                  // check width > 0
>>         ldp             w12, w11, [x5]          // w12: ry, w11: gy
>>         ldr             w10, [x5, #8]           // w10: by
>> -        b.gt            4f
>> -        ret
>> +        b               4f
>> endfunc
>> 
>> function ff_\fmt_rgb\()ToY_neon, export=1
>> -        cmp             w4, #0                  // check width > 0
>> +        cbz             w4, 3f                  // check width > 0
>>         ldp             w10, w11, [x5]          // w10: ry, w11: gy
>>         ldr             w12, [x5, #8]           // w12: by
>> -        b.le            3f
>> 4:
>>         mov             w9, #256                // w9 = 1 << (RGB2YUV_SHIFT 
>> - 7)
>>         movk            w9, #8, lsl #16         // w9 += 32 << 
>> (RGB2YUV_SHIFT - 1)
>> @@ -158,8 +178,7 @@ rgbToY_neon abgr32, argb32, element=4, alpha_first=1
>> 
>> .macro rgbToUV_half_neon fmt_bgr, fmt_rgb, element, alpha_first=0
>> function ff_\fmt_bgr\()ToUV_half_neon, export=1
>> -        cmp             w5, #0          // check width > 0
>> -        b.le            3f
>> +        cbz             w5, 3f          // check width > 0
>>
>>         ldp             w12, w11, [x6, #12]
>>         ldp             w10, w15, [x6, #20]
>> @@ -168,7 +187,7 @@ function ff_\fmt_bgr\()ToUV_half_neon, export=1
>> endfunc
>> 
>> function ff_\fmt_rgb\()ToUV_half_neon, export=1
>> -        cmp             w5, #0          // check width > 0
>> +        cmp             w5, #0                  // check width > 0
>>         b.le            3f
>>
>>         ldp             w10, w11, [x6, #12]     // w10: ru, w11: gu
>> @@ -178,32 +197,41 @@ function ff_\fmt_rgb\()ToUV_half_neon, export=1
>>         cmp             w5, #8
>>         rgb_set_uv_coeff half=1
>>         b.lt            2f
>> -1:
>> +1:  // load 16 pixels and prefetch memory for the next block
>>     .if \element == 3
>> -        ld3             { v16.16b, v17.16b, v18.16b }, [x3]
>> +        ld3             { v16.16b, v17.16b, v18.16b }, [x3], #48
>> +        prfm            pldl1strm, [x3, #48]
>>     .else
>> -        ld4             { v16.16b, v17.16b, v18.16b, v19.16b }, [x3]
>> +        ld4             { v16.16b, v17.16b, v18.16b, v19.16b }, [x3], #64
>> +        prfm            pldl1strm, [x3, #64]
>>     .endif
>> +
>>     .if \alpha_first
>> -        uaddlp          v21.8h, v19.16b
>> -        uaddlp          v20.8h, v18.16b
>> -        uaddlp          v19.8h, v17.16b
>> +        uaddlp          v21.8h, v19.16b         // v21: summed b pairs
>> +        uaddlp          v20.8h, v18.16b         // v20: summed g pairs
>> +        uaddlp          v19.8h, v17.16b         // v19: summed r pairs
>>     .else
>> -        uaddlp          v19.8h, v16.16b         // v19: r
>> -        uaddlp          v20.8h, v17.16b         // v20: g
>> -        uaddlp          v21.8h, v18.16b         // v21: b
>> +        uaddlp          v19.8h, v16.16b         // v19: summed r pairs
>> +        uaddlp          v20.8h, v17.16b         // v20: summed g pairs
>> +        uaddlp          v21.8h, v18.16b         // v21: summed b pairs
>>     .endif
>> 
>> -        rgb_to_yuv_product v19, v20, v21, v22, v23, v16, v0, v1, v2, #10
>> -        rgb_to_yuv_product v19, v20, v21, v24, v25, v17, v3, v4, v5, #10
>> -        sub             w5, w5, #8              // width -= 8
>> -        add             x3, x3, #(16*\element)
>> -        cmp             w5, #8                  // width >= 8 ?
>> +        mov             v22.16b, v6.16b         // U first half
>> +        mov             v23.16b, v6.16b         // U second half
>> +        mov             v24.16b, v6.16b         // V first half
>> +        mov             v25.16b, v6.16b         // V second half
>> +
>> +        rgb_to_uv_interleaved_product v19, v20, v21, v0, v1, v2, v3, v4, 
>> v5, v22, v23, v24, v25, v16, v17, #10
>> +
>>         str             q16, [x0], #16          // store dst_u
>>         str             q17, [x1], #16          // store dst_v
>> +
>> +        sub             w5, w5, #8              // width -= 8
>> +        cmp             w5, #8                  // width >= 8 ?
>>         b.ge            1b
>> -        cbz             w5, 3f
>> -2:
>> +        cbz             w5, 3f                  // No pixels left? Exit
>> +
>> +2:      // Scalar fallback for remaining pixels
>> .if \alpha_first
>>         rgb_load_add_half 1, 5, 2, 6, 3, 7
>> .else
>> @@ -213,21 +241,24 @@ function ff_\fmt_rgb\()ToUV_half_neon, export=1
>>         rgb_load_add_half 0, 4, 1, 5, 2, 6
>>     .endif
>> .endif
>> -
>>         smaddl          x8, w2, w10, x9         // dst_u = ru * r + 
>> const_offset
>> +        smaddl          x16, w2, w13, x9        // dst_v = rv * r + 
>> const_offset (parallel)
>> +
>>         smaddl          x8, w4, w11, x8         // dst_u += gu * g
>> +        smaddl          x16, w4, w14, x16       // dst_v += gv * g 
>> (parallel)
>> +
>>         smaddl          x8, w7, w12, x8         // dst_u += bu * b
>> -        asr             x8, x8, #10             // dst_u >>= 10
>> +        smaddl          x16, w7, w15, x16       // dst_v += bv * b 
>> (parallel)
>> +
>> +        asr             w8, w8, #10             // dst_u >>= 10
>> +        asr             w16, w16, #10           // dst_v >>= 10
>> +
>>         strh            w8, [x0], #2            // store dst_u
>> -
>> -        smaddl          x8, w2, w13, x9         // dst_v = rv * r + 
>> const_offset
>> -        smaddl          x8, w4, w14, x8         // dst_v += gv * g
>> -        smaddl          x8, w7, w15, x8         // dst_v += bv * b
>> -        asr             x8, x8, #10             // dst_v >>= 10
>> -        sub             w5, w5, #1
>> -        add             x3, x3, #(2*\element)
>> -        strh            w8, [x1], #2            // store dst_v
>> -        cbnz            w5, 2b
>> +        strh            w16, [x1], #2           // store dst_v
>> +
>> +        sub             w5, w5, #1              // width--
>> +        add             x3, x3, #(2*\element)   // Advance source pointer
>> +        cbnz            w5, 2b                  // Process next pixel if 
>> any left
>> 3:
>>         ret
>> endfunc
>> @@ -244,9 +275,9 @@ function ff_\fmt_bgr\()ToUV_neon, export=1
>>         cmp             w5, #0                  // check width > 0
>>         b.le            3f
>> 
>> -        ldp             w12, w11, [x6, #12]
>> -        ldp             w10, w15, [x6, #20]
>> -        ldp             w14, w13, [x6, #28]
>> +        ldp             w12, w11, [x6, #12]     // bu, gu
>> +        ldp             w10, w15, [x6, #20]     // ru, bv
>> +        ldp             w14, w13, [x6, #28]     // gv, rv
>>         b               4f
>> endfunc
>> 
>> +        .else // element == 4
>> +            ld4             { v16.16b, v17.16b, v18.16b, v19.16b }, [x3], 
>> #64
>> +            prfm            pldl1strm, [x3, #64]
>> +        .endif
>> +        uxtl            v19.8h, v16.8b             // v19: r
>> +        uxtl            v20.8h, v17.8b             // v20: g
>> +        uxtl            v21.8h, v18.8b             // v21: b
>> +        uxtl2           v22.8h, v16.16b            // v22: r
>> +        uxtl2           v23.8h, v17.16b            // v23: g
>> +        uxtl2           v24.8h, v18.16b            // v24: b
>>     .endif
>> -        rgb_to_yuv_product v19, v20, v21, v25, v26, v16, v0, v1, v2, #9
>> -        rgb_to_yuv_product v22, v23, v24, v27, v28, v17, v0, v1, v2, #9
>> -        rgb_to_yuv_product v19, v20, v21, v25, v26, v18, v3, v4, v5, #9
>> -        rgb_to_yuv_product v22, v23, v24, v27, v28, v19, v3, v4, v5, #9
>> -        sub             w5, w5, #16
>> -        add             x3, x3, #(16*\element)
>> -        cmp             w5, #16
>> -        stp             q16, q17, [x0], #32     // store to dst_u
>> -        stp             q18, q19, [x1], #32     // store to dst_v
>> +        // process 2 groups of 8 pixels
>> +        mov             v25.16b, v6.16b         // U_dst1 = const_offset 
>> (32-bit accumulators)
>> +        mov             v26.16b, v6.16b         // U_dst2 = const_offset
>> +        mov             v27.16b, v6.16b         // V_dst1 = const_offset
>> +        mov             v28.16b, v6.16b         // V_dst2 = const_offset
>> +        rgb_to_uv_interleaved_product v19, v20, v21, v0, v1, v2, v3, v4, 
>> v5, v25, v26, v27, v28, v16, v18, #9
>> +
>> +        mov             v25.16b, v6.16b
>> +        mov             v26.16b, v6.16b
>> +        mov             v27.16b, v6.16b
>> +        mov             v28.16b, v6.16b
>> +        rgb_to_uv_interleaved_product v22, v23, v24, v0, v1, v2, v3, v4, 
>> v5, v25, v26, v27, v28, v17, v19, #9
>> +
>> +        sub             w5, w5, #16             // width -= 16
>> +        cmp             w5, #16                 // width >= 16 ?
>> +        stp             q16, q17, [x0], #32     // store to dst_u 
>> (post-increment)
>> +        stp             q18, q19, [x1], #32     // store to dst_v 
>> (post-increment)
>>         b.ge            1b
>> -        cbz             w5, 3f
>> +        cbz             w5, 3f                  // No pixels left? Exit
>> +
>> 2:
>>     .if \alpha_first
>>         ldrb            w16, [x3, #1]           // w16: r
>> @@ -292,13 +350,13 @@ function ff_\fmt_rgb\()ToUV_neon, export=1
>>         smaddl          x8, w16, w10, x9        // x8 = ru * r + 
>> const_offset
>>         smaddl          x8, w17, w11, x8        // x8 += gu * g
>>         smaddl          x8, w4, w12, x8         // x8 += bu * b
>> -        asr             w8, w8, #9              // x8 >>= 9
>> +        asr             x8, x8, #9              // x8 >>= 9
>>         strh            w8, [x0], #2            // store to dst_u
>
> Does this make any practical difference, as we're just storing the lower 32 
> bits anyway?

This comment is unaddressed.

// Martin


More information about the ffmpeg-devel mailing list