Audio ML PapersLandmark papers
← All papers
RESEARCH PAPER / 2026-03-12

OmniForcing: Unleashing Real-time Joint Audio-Visual Generation

Yaofeng Su, Yuming Li, Zeyue Xue ...Full author list in the original paper.

Peking University +3 · arXiv

Affiliations: JD Explore Academy, Fudan University, Peking University, The University of Hong Kong

Abstract

Recent joint audio-visual diffusion models achieve remarkable generation quality but suffer from high latency due to their bidirectional attention dependencies, hindering real-time applications. We propose OmniForcing, the first framework to distill an offline, dual-stream bidirectional diffusion model into a high-fidelity streaming autoregressive generator. However, naively applying causal distillation to such dual-stream architectures triggers severe training instability, due to the extreme temporal asymmetry between modalities and the resulting token sparsity. We address the inherent information density gap by introducing an Asymmetric Block-Causal Alignment with a zero-truncation Global Prefix that prevents multi-modal synchronization drift. The gradient explosion caused by extreme audio token sparsity during the causal shift is further resolved through an Audio Sink Token mechanism equipped with an Identity RoPE constraint. Finally, a Joint Self-Forcing Distillation paradigm enables the model to dynamically self-correct cumulative cross-modal errors from exposure bias during long rollouts. Empowered by a modality-independent rolling KV-cache inference scheme, OmniForcing achieves state-of-the-art streaming generation at $\sim$25 FPS on a single GPU, maintaining multi-modal synchronization and visual quality on par with the bidirectional teacher.\textbf{Project Page:} \href{https://omniforcing.com}{https://omniforcing.com}

The following analysis is generated by AI and may contain errors. It is separate from the authors’ abstract and is not peer review.

Research summary

The paper presents OmniForcing, a novel framework for real-time joint audio-visual generation that effectively addresses the challenges of latency and training instability in existing models. Its innovative methodologies and comprehensive experimental evaluations position it as a significant contribution to the field of machine learning and multimedia generation.

Methodology

The proposed OmniForcing framework is a significant advancement in real-time joint audio-visual generation, addressing the latency issues of existing models through innovative techniques such as Asymmetric Block-Causal Alignment and Audio Sink Tokens with Identity RoPE. The methodology is well-structured, with a clear focus on overcoming the challenges of temporal asymmetry and training instability in dual-stream architectures. The introduction of a Joint Self-Forcing Distillation paradigm is particularly noteworthy, as it allows the model to dynamically correct cross-modal errors, enhancing the robustness of the generation process.

Results & evaluation

The experiments are comprehensive, comparing OmniForcing against both bidirectional models and cascaded autoregressive baselines. The evaluation metrics are well-defined, focusing on visual quality, audio fidelity, and real-time inference efficiency. The results demonstrate that OmniForcing achieves state-of-the-art performance, significantly reducing latency while maintaining high-quality outputs, which is crucial for real-time applications.

Reproducibility

The paper provides detailed implementation details, including training setups and hyperparameters, which enhances reproducibility. However, the lack of a publicly available code repository or demo may hinder independent verification of results.

Limitations

One limitation is the inherent trade-off between streaming capability and the full-sequence attention of the original bidirectional model, which may lead to slight reductions in consistency and synchrony compared to the teacher model. Additionally, the reliance on a specific architecture (LTX-2) may limit the generalizability of the findings to other models.

Broader impact

The work has significant implications for real-time applications in multimedia content creation, gaming, and interactive media, where low-latency audio-visual generation is essential. By enabling efficient streaming of synchronized audio and video, OmniForcing could facilitate advancements in various fields, including virtual reality and live performance technologies. The paper presents OmniForcing, a novel framework for real-time joint audio-visual generation that effectively addresses the challenges of latency and training instability in existing models. Its innovative methodologies and comprehensive experimental evaluations position it as a significant contribution to the field of machine learning and multimedia generation.

Author of this paper? Send a correction.