EQ-VAE: Equivariance Regularized Latent Space for Improved Generative Image Modeling

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Kouzelis, Theodoros, Kakogeorgiou, Ioannis, Gidaris, Spyros, Komodakis, Nikos
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Kouzelis, Theodoros
Kakogeorgiou, Ioannis
Gidaris, Spyros
Komodakis, Nikos
author_facet Kouzelis, Theodoros
Kakogeorgiou, Ioannis
Gidaris, Spyros
Komodakis, Nikos
contents Latent generative models have emerged as a leading approach for high-quality image synthesis. These models rely on an autoencoder to compress images into a latent space, followed by a generative model to learn the latent distribution. We identify that existing autoencoders lack equivariance to semantic-preserving transformations like scaling and rotation, resulting in complex latent spaces that hinder generative performance. To address this, we propose EQ-VAE, a simple regularization approach that enforces equivariance in the latent space, reducing its complexity without degrading reconstruction quality. By finetuning pre-trained autoencoders with EQ-VAE, we enhance the performance of several state-of-the-art generative models, including DiT, SiT, REPA and MaskGIT, achieving a 7 speedup on DiT-XL/2 with only five epochs of SD-VAE fine-tuning. EQ-VAE is compatible with both continuous and discrete autoencoders, thus offering a versatile enhancement for a wide range of latent generative models. Project page and code: https://eq-vae.github.io/.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_09509
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle EQ-VAE: Equivariance Regularized Latent Space for Improved Generative Image Modeling
Kouzelis, Theodoros
Kakogeorgiou, Ioannis
Gidaris, Spyros
Komodakis, Nikos
Machine Learning
Latent generative models have emerged as a leading approach for high-quality image synthesis. These models rely on an autoencoder to compress images into a latent space, followed by a generative model to learn the latent distribution. We identify that existing autoencoders lack equivariance to semantic-preserving transformations like scaling and rotation, resulting in complex latent spaces that hinder generative performance. To address this, we propose EQ-VAE, a simple regularization approach that enforces equivariance in the latent space, reducing its complexity without degrading reconstruction quality. By finetuning pre-trained autoencoders with EQ-VAE, we enhance the performance of several state-of-the-art generative models, including DiT, SiT, REPA and MaskGIT, achieving a 7 speedup on DiT-XL/2 with only five epochs of SD-VAE fine-tuning. EQ-VAE is compatible with both continuous and discrete autoencoders, thus offering a versatile enhancement for a wide range of latent generative models. Project page and code: https://eq-vae.github.io/.
title EQ-VAE: Equivariance Regularized Latent Space for Improved Generative Image Modeling
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.09509