Efficient Hybrid Distillation: Synergizing Score and Adversarial Objectives for One-Step Diffusion

Numerous distillation methods have been developed to accelerate diffusion models. Recent research indicates that hybrid strategies---blending different paradigms---yield superior results compared to single-method approaches. However, current works predominantly rely on a simple combination of objectives, leaving the question of how to effectively synergize them largely underexplored. In this paper, we specifically investigate the synergy between Score Distillation and Adversarial Distillation. We reveal that their operating zones are distinct and complementary: Score Distillation is effective in high-noise regimes for capturing the global distribution yet lacks fine-grained supervision in low-noise regions. Conversely, Adversarial Distillation is effective in low-noise regions but is prone to instability and suffers from discriminator failure when applied to high-noise intervals. Leveraging this insight, we propose Efficient Adversarial Score Distillation (EASD), a framework that synergizes these objectives via a regime-adaptive sampling strategy, directing each objective to focus on its effective interval. We further apply this paradigm to DiT-based Flow Matching models. Empirically, our method achieves a promising one-step FID of 1.39 on ImageNet 256$\times$256 using the SiT-XL/2+REPA model. This work provides a concrete guideline for maximizing the potential of hybrid distillation. Our code and model are available at https://github.com/pf0607/EASD .

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
arXiv (Cornell University)
Published
2026-11-02
DOI
https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2611.03017
Primary Topic
Generative Adversarial Networks and Image Synthesis
Type
preprint
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preprint

Efficient Hybrid Distillation: Synergizing Score and Adversarial Objectives for One-Step Diffusion

Haoxian Tan, Junqiang Wu, Jun Zhou, Xiu Li et al.
arXiv (Cornell University)
Generative Adversarial Networks and Image Synthesis
preprint

Efficient Hybrid Distillation: Synergizing Score and Adversarial Objectives for One-Step Diffusion

Haoxian Tan, Junqiang Wu, Jun Zhou, Xiu Li, Jie Guo, Xiaoming Wei, Jie Hu, Fei Peng
preprint en

Abstract

Numerous distillation methods have been developed to accelerate diffusion models. Recent research indicates that hybrid strategies---blending different paradigms---yield superior results compared to single-method approaches. However, current works predominantly rely on a simple combination of objectives, leaving the question of how to effectively synergize them largely underexplored. In this paper, we specifically investigate the synergy between Score Distillation and Adversarial Distillation. We reveal that their operating zones are distinct and complementary: Score Distillation is effective in high-noise regimes for capturing the global distribution yet lacks fine-grained supervision in low-noise regions. Conversely, Adversarial Distillation is effective in low-noise regions but is prone to instability and suffers from discriminator failure when applied to high-noise intervals. Leveraging this insight, we propose Efficient Adversarial Score Distillation (EASD), a framework that synergizes these objectives via a regime-adaptive sampling strategy, directing each objective to focus on its effective interval. We further apply this paradigm to DiT-based Flow Matching models. Empirically, our method achieves a promising one-step FID of 1.39 on ImageNet 256$\times$256 using the SiT-XL/2+REPA model. This work provides a concrete guideline for maximizing the potential of hybrid distillation. Our code and model are available at https://github.com/pf0607/EASD .

arXiv (Cornell University)
Generative Adversarial Networks and Image Synthesis
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