Flow Map Distillation Without Data
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Abstract (arXiv)
State-of-the-art flow models achieve remarkable quality but require slow, iterative sampling. To accelerate this, flow maps can be distilled from pre-trained teachers, a procedure that conventionally requires sampling from an external dataset. We argue that this data-dependency introduces a fundamental risk of Teacher-Data Mismatch, as a static dataset may provide an incomplete or even misaligned representation of the teacher's full generative capabilities. This leads us to question whether this reliance on data is truly necessary for successful flow map distillation. In this work, we explore a data-free alternative that samples only from the prior distribution, a distribution the teacher is guaranteed to follow by construction, thereby circumventing the mismatch risk entirely. To demonstrate the practical viability of this philosophy, we introduce a principled framework that learns to predict the teacher's sampling path while actively correcting for its own compounding errors to ensure high fidelity. Our approach surpasses all data-based counterparts and establishes a new state-of-the-art by a significant margin. Specifically, distilling from SiT-XL/2+REPA, our method reaches an impressive FID of 1.45 on ImageNet 256x256, and 1.49 on ImageNet 512x512, both with only 1 sampling step. We hope our work establishes a more robust paradigm for accelerating generative models and motivates the broader adoption of flow map distillation without data.
Key facts. Cited by 14 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 93 of its 107 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 24 Nov 2025.
Builds on
93 of 107 references.
References · 93
- 2017Attention Is All You Needcited by 60,361
- 2020Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Modelscited by 21,076
- 2021High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Modelscited by 18,863
- 2015Distilling the Knowledge in a Neural Networkcited by 10,324
- 2020Denoising Diffusion Implicit Modelscited by 9,781
- 2020Score-Based Generative Modeling through Stochastic Differential Equationscited by 9,122
- 2014ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challengecited by 8,498
- 2021Diffusion Models Beat GANs on Image Synthesiscited by 8,255
- 2015Deep Unsupervised Learning using Nonequilibrium Thermodynamicscited by 7,058
- 2022Scalable Diffusion Models with Transformerscited by 6,054
- 2022Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidancecited by 5,847
- 2021Zero-Shot Text-to-Image Generationcited by 4,288
38 more
- 2024Scaling Rectified Flow Transformers for High-Resolution Image Synthesiscited by 4,181
- 2019Generative Modeling by Estimating Gradients of the Data Distributioncited by 4,101
- 2022Flow Straight and Fast: Learning to Generate and Transfer Data with Rectified Flowcited by 3,700
- 2020Taming Transformers for High-Resolution Image Synthesiscited by 3,253
- 2022Elucidating the Design Space of Diffusion-Based Generative Modelscited by 3,045
- 2022DreamFusion: Text-to-3D using 2D Diffusioncited by 3,025
- 2016Improved Techniques for Training GANscited by 2,970
- 2017What Uncertainties Do We Need in Bayesian Deep Learning for Computer Vision?cited by 2,352
- 2022DPM-Solver: A Fast ODE Solver for Diffusion Probabilistic Model Sampling in Around 10 Stepscited by 1,979
- 2023Consistency Modelscited by 1,822
- 2023ProlificDreamer: High-Fidelity and Diverse Text-to-3D Generation with Variational Score Distillationcited by 1,219
- 2025Qwen-Image Technical Reportcited by 1,044
- 2023One-step Diffusion with Distribution Matching Distillationcited by 1,019
- 2025FLUX.1 Kontext: Flow Matching for In-Context Image Generation and Editing in Latent Spacecited by 1,006
- 2022Building Normalizing Flows with Stochastic Interpolantscited by 995
- 2023Diffusion Model Alignment Using Direct Preference Optimizationcited by 790
- 2023Adversarial Diffusion Distillationcited by 759
- 2024SiT: Exploring Flow and Diffusion-based Generative Models with Scalable Interpolant Transformerscited by 737
- 2022On Distillation of Guided Diffusion Modelscited by 725
- 2024Representation Alignment for Generation: Training Diffusion Transformers Is Easier Than You Thinkcited by 703
- 2024Improved Distribution Matching Distillation for Fast Image Synthesiscited by 684
- 2022Equivariant Diffusion for Molecule Generation in 3Dcited by 677
- 2025Flow-GRPO: Training Flow Matching Models via Online RLcited by 661
- 2025Mean Flows for One-step Generative Modelingcited by 561
- 2021Tackling the Generative Learning Trilemma with Denoising Diffusion GANscited by 516
- 2023Consistency Trajectory Models: Learning Probability Flow ODE Trajectory of Diffusioncited by 459
- 2023Improved Techniques for Training Consistency Modelscited by 439
- 2023Analyzing and Improving the Training Dynamics of Diffusion Modelscited by 402
- 2023InstaFlow: One Step is Enough for High-Quality Diffusion-Based Text-to-Image Generationcited by 395
- 2024One Step Diffusion via Shortcut Modelscited by 391
- 2021Knowledge Distillation in Iterative Generative Models for Improved Sampling Speedcited by 348
- 2024Guiding a Diffusion Model with a Bad Version of Itselfcited by 299
- 2025Diffusion Transformers with Representation Autoencoderscited by 295
- 2024Simplifying, Stabilizing and Scaling Continuous-Time Consistency Modelscited by 283
- 2024Fast High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Adversarial Diffusion Distillationcited by 279
- 2024Applying Guidance in a Limited Interval Improves Sample and Distribution Quality in Diffusion Modelscited by 254
- 2025Seedream 4.0: Toward Next-generation Multimodal Image Generationcited by 249
- 2023Diff-Instruct: A Universal Approach for Transferring Knowledge From Pre-trained Diffusion Modelscited by 236
50 most cited of 93 All 93 (JSON)
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Citing papers per year: 2025: 1; 2026: 13.
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- 2026Diamond Maps: Efficient Reward Alignment via Stochastic Flow Mapscited by 29
- 2026Causal-rCM: A Unified Teacher-Forcing and Self-Forcing Open Recipe for Autoregressive Diffusion Distillation in Streaming Video Generation and Interactive World Modelscited by 25
- 2026Diversity-Preserved Distribution Matching Distillation for Fast Visual Synthesiscited by 20
- 2025TwinFlow: Realizing One-step Generation on Large Models with Self-adversarial Flowscited by 17
- 2026Mode Seeking meets Mean Seeking for Fast Long Video Generationcited by 12
- 2026AAD-1: Asymmetric Adversarial Distillation for One-Step Autoregressive Video Generationcited by 5
- 2026Bi-Anchor Interpolation Solver for Accelerating Generative Modelingcited by 3
- 2026Duality Models: An Embarrassingly Simple One-step Generation Paradigmcited by 3
- 2026Distilling Drifting Transformers with Representation Autoencoderscited by 3
- 2026FlashMol: High-Quality Molecule Generation in as Few as Four Stepscited by 1
- 2026A Quantitative Approximation Framework for Flow Distillation in Diffusion Modelscited by 1
- 2026FlowConsist: Make Your Flow Consistent with Real Trajectorycited by 0
- 2026Consistent Distribution Matching for Data-Free Diffusion Distillation6 Oct 2026
- 2026An End-to-End Latent-Rollout Approach for Pushing Few-Step ImageNet-256 Generation to FID 1.11 without Fr'echet Losses26 Sep 2026
- 2026Causal-rCM: A Unified Teacher-Forcing and Self-Forcing Open Recipe for Autoregressive Diffusion Distillation in Streaming Video Generation and Interactive World Models24 Jun 2026
- 2026Distilling Drifting Transformers with Representation Autoencoders14 Jun 2026
- 2026AAD-1: Asymmetric Adversarial Distillation for One-Step Autoregressive Video Generation2 Jun 2026
- 2026A Quantitative Approximation Framework for Flow Distillation in Diffusion Models2 Jun 2026
- 2026FlashMol: High-Quality Molecule Generation in as Few as Four Steps7 May 2026
- 2026Mode Seeking meets Mean Seeking for Fast Long Video Generation27 Feb 2026
- 2026FlowConsist: Make Your Flow Consistent with Real Trajectory6 Feb 2026
- 2026Diamond Maps: Efficient Reward Alignment via Stochastic Flow Maps5 Feb 2026
- 2026Duality Models: An Embarrassingly Simple One-step Generation Paradigm4 Feb 2026
- 2026Diversity-Preserved Distribution Matching Distillation for Fast Visual Synthesis3 Feb 2026
- 2026Diamond Maps: Efficient Reward Alignment via Stochastic Flow Mapscited by 29
- 2026Mode Seeking meets Mean Seeking for Fast Long Video Generationcited by 12
- 2026Bi-Anchor Interpolation Solver for Accelerating Generative Modelingcited by 3
- 2026A Quantitative Approximation Framework for Flow Distillation in Diffusion Modelscited by 1
- 2026Consistent Distribution Matching for Data-Free Diffusion Distillationcited by 0
- 2026Consistent Distribution Matching for Data-Free Diffusion Distillation6 Oct 2026
- 2026A Quantitative Approximation Framework for Flow Distillation in Diffusion Models2 Jun 2026
- 2026Mode Seeking meets Mean Seeking for Fast Long Video Generation27 Feb 2026
- 2026Diamond Maps: Efficient Reward Alignment via Stochastic Flow Maps5 Feb 2026
- 2026Bi-Anchor Interpolation Solver for Accelerating Generative Modeling29 Jan 2026
- 2026Diversity-Preserved Distribution Matching Distillation for Fast Visual Synthesiscited by 20
- 2025TwinFlow: Realizing One-step Generation on Large Models with Self-adversarial Flowscited by 17
- 2026AAD-1: Asymmetric Adversarial Distillation for One-Step Autoregressive Video Generationcited by 5
- 2026Duality Models: An Embarrassingly Simple One-step Generation Paradigmcited by 3
- 2026Distilling Drifting Transformers with Representation Autoencoderscited by 3
- 2026FlashMol: High-Quality Molecule Generation in as Few as Four Stepscited by 1
- 2026FlowConsist: Make Your Flow Consistent with Real Trajectorycited by 0
- 2026Distilling Drifting Transformers with Representation Autoencoders14 Jun 2026
- 2026AAD-1: Asymmetric Adversarial Distillation for One-Step Autoregressive Video Generation2 Jun 2026
- 2026FlashMol: High-Quality Molecule Generation in as Few as Four Steps7 May 2026
- 2026FlowConsist: Make Your Flow Consistent with Real Trajectory6 Feb 2026
- 2026Duality Models: An Embarrassingly Simple One-step Generation Paradigm4 Feb 2026
- 2026Diversity-Preserved Distribution Matching Distillation for Fast Visual Synthesis3 Feb 2026
- 2025TwinFlow: Realizing One-step Generation on Large Models with Self-adversarial Flows3 Dec 2025
Similar, not cited
Close in wording, no citation either way
- 2026Path-Guided Flow Matching for Dataset Distillation
- 2026FlowMap-OPD: Rollout--Kernel Separation for On-Policy Distillation of Few-Step Flow-Map Generators
- 2026Geometry-Aware Time Reparameterization for Flow-Map Distillation
- 2023Sampling to Distill: Knowledge Transfer from Open-World Data
- 2026Logit Distillation on Manifolds: Mapping by Learning
- 2026Curriculum Sampling: A Two-Phase Curriculum for Efficient Training of Flow Matching
- 2026Categorical Flow Maps
- 2026Distribution Matching Distillation without Fake Score Network