SSE2 code optimization to compress an image - c++

Question

I want to optimize the for loop with SSE/SSE2 instructions for a better time in image compression.
size_t height = get_height();
size_t width = get_width();
size_t total_size = height * width * 3;
uint8_t *src = get_pixels();
uint8_t *dst = new uint8_t[total_size / 6];
uint8_t *tmp = dst;
rgb_t block[16];
if (height % 4 != 0 || width % 4 != 0) {
cerr << "Texture compression only supported for images if width and height are multiples of 4" << endl;
return;
}
// Split image in 4x4 pixels zones
for (unsigned y = 0; y < height; y += 4, src += width * 3 * 4) {
for (unsigned x = 0; x < width; x += 4, dst += 8) {
const rgb_t *row0 = reinterpret_cast<const rgb_t*>(src + x * 3);
const rgb_t *row1 = row0 + width;
const rgb_t *row2 = row1 + width;
const rgb_t *row3 = row2 + width;
// Extract 4x4 matrix of pixels from a linearized matrix(linear memory).
memcpy(block, row0, 12);
memcpy(block + 4, row1, 12);
memcpy(block + 8, row2, 12);
memcpy(block + 12, row3, 12);
// Compress block and write result in dst.
compress_block(block, dst);
}
}
How can I read from memory an entire line from matrix with sse/sse2 registers when a line is supposed to have 4 elements of 3 bytes? The rgb_t structure has 3 uint_t variables.

Answer 1

Why do you think the compiler doesn't already make good code for those 12-byte copies?
But if it doesn't, probably copying 16 bytes for the first three copies (with overlap) will let it use SSE vectors. And padding your array would let you do the last copy with a 16-byte memcpy which should compile to a 16-byte vector load/store, too:
alignas(16) rgb_t buf[16 + 4];
Aligning probably doesn't matter much, since only the first store will be aligned anyway. But it might help the function you're passing the buffer to as well.