FeRA: Frequency-Energy Constrained Routing for Effective Diffusion Adaptation Fine-Tuning

Diffusion models have achieved remarkable success in generative modeling, yet how to effectively adapting large pretrained models to new tasks remains challenging. We revisit the reconstruction behavior of diffusion models during denoising to unveil the underlying frequency–energy mechanism governing this process. Building upon this observation, we propose FeRA, a frequency-driven fine-tuning framework that aligns parameter updates with the intrinsic frequency–energy progression of diffusion. FeRA establishes a comprehensive frequency–energy framework for effective diffusion adaptation fine-tuning, comprising three synergistic components: (i) a compact frequency–energy indicator that characterizes the latent’s bandwise energy distribution, (ii) a soft frequency router that adaptively fuses multiple frequency-specific adapter experts, and (iii) a frequency–energy consistency regularization that stabilizes diffusion optimization and ensures coherent adaptation across bands. Routing operates in both training and inference, with inference-time routing dynamically determined by the latent frequency energy. It integrates seamlessly with adapter-based tuning schemes and generalizes well across diffusion backbones and resolutions. By aligning adaptation with the frequency–energy mechanism, FeRA provides a simple, stable, and compatible paradigm for effective and robust diffusion model adaptation. Codes will be made publicly available.