mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

Infrared and Visible Image Fusion: From Data Compatibility to Task Adaption

arXiv 2501.10761 ↗First posted 18 Jan 2025cs.CVcited by 46

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Abstract (arXiv)

Infrared-visible image fusion (IVIF) is a critical task in computer vision, aimed at integrating the unique features of both infrared and visible spectra into a unified representation. Since 2018, the field has entered the deep learning era, with an increasing variety of approaches introducing a range of networks and loss functions to enhance visual performance. However, challenges such as data compatibility, perception accuracy, and efficiency remain. Unfortunately, there is a lack of recent comprehensive surveys that address this rapidly expanding domain. This paper fills that gap by providing a thorough survey covering a broad range of topics. We introduce a multi-dimensional framework to elucidate common learning-based IVIF methods, from visual enhancement strategies to data compatibility and task adaptability. We also present a detailed analysis of these approaches, accompanied by a lookup table clarifying their core ideas. Furthermore, we summarize performance comparisons, both quantitatively and qualitatively, focusing on registration, fusion, and subsequent high-level tasks. Beyond technical analysis, we discuss potential future directions and open issues in this area. For further details, visit our GitHub repository: https://github.com/RollingPlain/IVIF_ZOO.

Key facts. Cited by 46 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 47 of its 181 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 18 Jan 2025.

Builds on

47 of 181 references.

References · 47

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35 more
  1. 2023Multi-interactive Feature Learning and a Full-time Multi-modality Benchmark for Image Fusion and Segmentationcited by 129
  2. 2021RFN-Nest: An end-to-end residual fusion network for infrared and visible imagescited by 109
  3. 2023Equivariant Multi-Modality Image Fusioncited by 99
  4. 2023LRRNet: A Novel Representation Learning Guided Fusion Network for Infrared and Visible Imagescited by 87
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  15. 2023Multi-modal Gated Mixture of Local-to-Global Experts for Dynamic Image Fusioncited by 54
  16. 2020Cross-Modal Collaborative Representation Learning and a Large-Scale RGBT Benchmark for Crowd Countingcited by 52
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Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2025: 27; 2026: 19.

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  1. 2025Every SAM Drop Counts: Embracing Semantic Priors for Multi-Modality Image Fusion and Beyondcited by 35
  2. 2025DCEvo: Discriminative Cross-Dimensional Evolutionary Learning for Infrared and Visible Image Fusioncited by 34
  3. 2025DEAL: Data-Efficient Adversarial Learning for High-Quality Infrared Imagingcited by 7
  4. 2025Task-Generalized Adaptive Cross-Domain Learning for Multimodal Image Fusioncited by 5
  5. 2025Spatial-Frequency Enhanced Mamba for Multi-Modal Image Fusioncited by 5
  6. 2025FlexiD-Fuse: Flexible number of inputs multi-modal medical image fusion based on diffusion modelcited by 4
  7. 2025Retinex-MEF: Retinex-based Glare Effects Aware Unsupervised Multi-Exposure Image Fusioncited by 3
  8. 2025FS-Diff: Semantic guidance and clarity-aware simultaneous multimodal image fusion and super-resolutioncited by 3
  9. 2025Collaborating Vision, Depth, and Thermal Signals for Multi-Modal Tracking: Dataset and Algorithmcited by 3
  10. 2025Enhancing Infrared Vision: Progressive Prompt Fusion Network and Benchmarkcited by 3
  11. 2025Striving for Faster and Better: A One-Layer Architecture with Auto Re-parameterization for Low-Light Image Enhancementcited by 2
  12. 2025OCCO: LVM-guided Infrared and Visible Image Fusion Framework based on Object-aware and Contextual COntrastive Learningcited by 2
34 more
  1. 2025FusionCounting: Robust visible-infrared image fusion guided by crowd counting via multi-task learningcited by 2
  2. 2025Self-supervised Multiplex Consensus Mamba for General Image Fusioncited by 2
  3. 2025Dream-IF: Dynamic Relative EnhAnceMent for Image Fusioncited by 1
  4. 2025AlignFreeNet: Is Cross-Modal Pre-Alignment Necessary? An End-to-End Alignment-Free Lightweight Network for Visible-Infrared Object Detectioncited by 1
  5. 2025MambaTrans: Multimodal Fusion Image Translation via Large Language Model Priors for Downstream Visual Taskscited by 1
  6. 2025Modality-Aware Infrared and Visible Image Fusion with Target-Aware Supervisioncited by 1
  7. 2025Text-Guided Channel Perturbation and Pretrained Knowledge Integration for Unified Multi-Modality Image Fusioncited by 1
  8. 2026Multi-Modal Image Fusion via Intervention-Stable Feature Learningcited by 1
  9. 2026Customized Fusion: A Closed-Loop Dynamic Network for Adaptive Multi-Task-Aware Infrared-Visible Image Fusioncited by 1
  10. 2026Bridging the RGB-IR Gap: Consensus and Discrepancy Modeling for Text-Guided Multispectral Detectioncited by 1
  11. 2026Robust Multispectral Semantic Segmentation under Missing or Full Modalities via Structured Latent Projectioncited by 1
  12. 2026From 2D Grids to 1D Tokens: Reforming Shared Representations for Multimodal Image Fusioncited by 1
  13. 2025Rethinking Few-Shot Image Fusion: Granular Ball Priors Enable General-Purpose Deep Fusioncited by 0
  14. 2025Causality-Driven Infrared and Visible Image Fusioncited by 0
  15. 2025Faster and Better: Reinforced Collaborative Distillation and Self-Learning for Infrared-Visible Image Fusioncited by 0
  16. 2025MAFS: Masked Autoencoder for Infrared-Visible Image Fusion and Semantic Segmentationcited by 0
  17. 2025MSGFusion: Multimodal Scene Graph-Guided Infrared and Visible Image Fusioncited by 0
  18. 2025SSVIF: Self-Supervised Segmentation-Oriented Visible and Infrared Image Fusioncited by 0
  19. 2025Depth-Supervised Fusion Network for Seamless-Free Image Stitchingcited by 0
  20. 2025MdaIF: Robust One-Stop Multi-Degradation-Aware Image Fusion with Language-Driven Semanticscited by 0
  21. 2026Entity-Guided Multi-Task Learning for Infrared and Visible Image Fusioncited by 0
  22. 2026No Calibration, No Depth, No Problem: Cross-Sensor View Synthesis with 3D Consistencycited by 0
  23. 2026Adversarial Patch Generation for Visual-Infrared Dense Prediction Tasks via Joint Position-Color Optimizationcited by 0
  24. 2026Fusion in Your Way: Aligning Image Fusion with Heterogeneous Demands via Direct Preference Optimizationcited by 0
  25. 2026FMRFusion: Frequency-Aware Multi-View Representation Learning for Heterogeneous Image Fusioncited by 0
  26. 2026Multi-modality Image Fusion under Adverse Weather: Mask-Guided Feature Restoration and Interactioncited by 0
  27. 2026Current Injection Spiking Neural Network for Infrared and Visible Image Fusioncited by 0
  28. 2026Unleashing the Power of Text: Text-Guided Flow Matching for Image Fusion under Complex Degradationscited by 0
  29. 2026P2Fusion: Prompt-based Progressive Infrared-Visible Image Fusion via Dual-Prior Distillationcited by 0
  30. 2026SGPDFuse: Semantically-Guided Physics-Disentanglement General Multi-Modal Image Fusioncited by 0
  31. 2026RoES: Rotational Equivariant Selective-frequency Fusion for Multimodal Imagescited by 0
  32. 2026Beyond Spatial-Domain Supervision: A Relation Constrained Space for Multi-Modal Image Fusioncited by 0
  33. 2026When Integral Meets Decomposition: A Signal-Level Self-Supervised Feature Decompose Paradigm for Multi-Modal Image Fusioncited by 0
  34. 2026AD-SRF: Attack-Defense Semantic Reinforcement for Multi-Modal Image Fusioncited by 0