# DiffImpute: Tabular Data Imputation With Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Model

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.13863 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.13863/

## Key facts

- Cited by 6 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Flow matching, time series and science, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models.
- Builds on 30 of its 51 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 20 Mar 2024.

## Placed in

- Diffusion models / [Flow matching, time series and science](https://mlsanity.com/diffusion/flow-matching-time-series-and-science/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 30)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [BERT: Pre-training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.04805/) (2018)
- [Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.11239/) (2020)
- [U-Net: Convolutional Networks for Biomedical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1505.04597/) (2015)
- [High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.10752/) (2021)
- [Denoising Diffusion Implicit Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.02502/) (2020)
- [Diffusion Models Beat GANs on Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.05233/) (2021)
- [Deep Unsupervised Learning using Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1503.03585/) (2015)
- [Batch Normalization: Accelerating Deep Network Training by Reducing Internal Covariate Shift](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1502.03167/) (2015)
- [Layer Normalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1607.06450/) (2016)
- [Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.00667/) (2022)
- [Improved Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.09672/) (2021)
- [Gaussian Error Linear Units (GELUs)](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.08415/) (2016)
- [Improved Techniques for Training GANs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.03498/) (2016)
- [RePaint: Inpainting using Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.09865/) (2022)
- [An Introduction to Variational Autoencoders](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.02691/) (2019)
- [Sigmoid-Weighted Linear Units for Neural Network Function Approximation in Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1702.03118/) (2017)
- [Revisiting Deep Learning Models for Tabular Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.11959/) (2021)
- [CSDI: Conditional Score-based Diffusion Models for Probabilistic Time Series Imputation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.03502/) (2021)
- [OpenML: networked science in machine learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1407.7722/) (2014)
- [Analog Bits: Generating Discrete Data using Diffusion Models with Self-Conditioning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.04202/) (2022)
- [GAIN: Missing Data Imputation using Generative Adversarial Nets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.02920/) (2018)
- [Handling Incomplete Heterogeneous Data using VAEs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.03653/) (2018)
- [HyperImpute: Generalized Iterative Imputation with Automatic Model Selection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.07769/) (2022)
- [Diffusion models for missing value imputation in tabular data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.17128/) (2022)
- [MisGAN: Learning from Incomplete Data with Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.09599/) (2019)
- [MissDiff: Training Diffusion Models on Tabular Data with Missing Values](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.00467/) (2023)
- [Generalized Huber Loss for Robust Learning and its Efficient Minimization for a Robust Statistics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.12627/) (2021)
- [On distinguishability criteria for estimating generative models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.6515/) (2014)
- [MIWAE: Deep Generative Modelling and Imputation of Incomplete Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.02633/) (2018)

## Built on by (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [Sports-Traj: A Unified Trajectory Generation Model for Multi-Agent Movement in Sports](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.17680/) (2024)
- [Anomaly Detection and Generation with Diffusion Models: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.09368/) (2025)
- [Collaborative Adaptive Curriculum for Progressive Knowledge Distillation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.20296/) (2026)
- [Table Transformers for Imputing Textual Attributes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.02128/) (2024)
- [DeepIFSAC: Deep Imputation of Missing Values Using Feature and Sample Attention within Contrastive Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.10910/) (2025)
- [AdaSports-Traj: Role- and Domain-Aware Adaptation for Multi-Agent Trajectory Modeling in Sports](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.16095/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Tabular data plays a crucial role in various domains but often suffers from missing values, thereby curtailing its potential utility. Traditional imputation techniques frequently yield suboptimal results and impose substantial computational burdens, leading to inaccuracies in subsequent modeling tasks. To address these challenges, we propose DiffImpute, a novel Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Model (DDPM). Specifically, DiffImpute is trained on complete tabular datasets, ensuring that it can produce credible imputations for missing entries without undermining the authenticity of the existing data. Innovatively, it can be applied to various settings of Missing Completely At Random (MCAR) and Missing At Random (MAR). To effectively handle the tabular features in DDPM, we tailor four tabular denoising networks, spanning MLP, ResNet, Transformer, and U-Net. We also propose Harmonization to enhance coherence between observed and imputed data by infusing the data back and denoising them multiple times during the sampling stage. To enable efficient inference while maintaining imputation performance, we propose a refined non-Markovian sampling process that works along with Harmonization. Empirical evaluations on seven diverse datasets underscore the prowess of DiffImpute. Specifically, when paired with the Transformer as the denoising network, it consistently outperforms its competitors, boasting an average ranking of 1.7 and the most minimal standard deviation. In contrast, the next best method lags with a ranking of 2.8 and a standard deviation of 0.9. The code is available at https://github.com/Dendiiiii/DiffImpute.