diff --git a/libraries/shared/src/CPUDetect.h b/libraries/shared/src/CPUDetect.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c9d2eb649b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libraries/shared/src/CPUDetect.h
@@ -0,0 +1,181 @@
+//
+//  CPUDetect.h
+//  libraries/shared/src
+//
+//  Created by Ken Cooke on 6/6/16.
+//  Copyright 2016 High Fidelity, Inc.
+//
+//  Distributed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.
+//  See the accompanying file LICENSE or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html
+//
+
+#ifndef hifi_CPUDetect_h
+#define hifi_CPUDetect_h
+
+//
+// Lightweight functions to detect SSE/AVX/AVX2 support
+//
+
+#if defined(_M_IX86) || defined(_M_X64) || defined(__i386__) || defined(__x86_64__)
+#define ARCH_X86
+#endif
+
+#define MASK_SSE3   (1 << 0)                // SSE3
+#define MASK_SSSE3  (1 << 9)                // SSSE3
+#define MASK_SSE41  (1 << 19)               // SSE4.1
+#define MASK_SSE42  ((1 << 20) | (1 << 23)) // SSE4.2 and POPCNT
+#define MASK_AVX    ((1 << 27) | (1 << 28)) // OSXSAVE and AVX
+#define MASK_AVX2   (1 << 5)                // AVX2
+
+#if defined(ARCH_X86) && defined(_MSC_VER)
+
+#include <intrin.h>
+
+static inline bool cpuSupportsSSE3() {
+    int info[4];
+
+    __cpuidex(info, 0x1, 0);
+
+    return ((info[2] & MASK_SSE3) == MASK_SSE3);
+}
+
+static inline bool cpuSupportsSSSE3() {
+    int info[4];
+
+    __cpuidex(info, 0x1, 0);
+
+    return ((info[2] & MASK_SSSE3) == MASK_SSSE3);
+}
+
+static inline bool cpuSupportsSSE41() {
+    int info[4];
+
+    __cpuidex(info, 0x1, 0);
+
+    return ((info[2] & MASK_SSE41) == MASK_SSE41);
+}
+
+static inline bool cpuSupportsSSE42() {
+    int info[4];
+
+    __cpuidex(info, 0x1, 0);
+
+    return ((info[2] & MASK_SSE42) == MASK_SSE42);
+}
+
+static inline bool cpuSupportsAVX() {
+    int info[4];
+
+    __cpuidex(info, 0x1, 0);
+
+    bool result = false;
+    if ((info[2] & MASK_AVX) == MASK_AVX) {
+
+        // verify OS support for YMM state
+        if ((_xgetbv(_XCR_XFEATURE_ENABLED_MASK) & 0x6) == 0x6) {
+            result = true;
+        }
+    }
+    return result;
+}
+
+static inline bool cpuSupportsAVX2() {
+    int info[4];
+
+    bool result = false;
+    if (cpuSupportsAVX()) {
+
+        __cpuidex(info, 0x7, 0);
+
+        if ((info[1] & MASK_AVX2) == MASK_AVX2) {
+            result = true;
+        }
+    }
+    return result;
+}
+
+#elif defined(ARCH_X86) && defined(__GNUC__)
+
+#include <cpuid.h>
+
+static inline bool cpuSupportsSSE3() {
+    unsigned int eax, ebx, ecx, edx;
+
+    return __get_cpuid(0x1, &eax, &ebx, &ecx, &edx) && ((ecx & MASK_SSE3) == MASK_SSE3);
+}
+
+static inline bool cpuSupportsSSSE3() {
+    unsigned int eax, ebx, ecx, edx;
+
+    return __get_cpuid(0x1, &eax, &ebx, &ecx, &edx) && ((ecx & MASK_SSSE3) == MASK_SSSE3);
+}
+
+static inline bool cpuSupportsSSE41() {
+    unsigned int eax, ebx, ecx, edx;
+
+    return __get_cpuid(0x1, &eax, &ebx, &ecx, &edx) && ((ecx & MASK_SSE41) == MASK_SSE41);
+}
+
+static inline bool cpuSupportsSSE42() {
+    unsigned int eax, ebx, ecx, edx;
+
+    return __get_cpuid(0x1, &eax, &ebx, &ecx, &edx) && ((ecx & MASK_SSE42) == MASK_SSE42);
+}
+
+static inline bool cpuSupportsAVX() {
+    unsigned int eax, ebx, ecx, edx;
+
+    bool result = false;
+    if (__get_cpuid(0x1, &eax, &ebx, &ecx, &edx) && ((ecx & MASK_AVX) == MASK_AVX)) {
+
+        // verify OS support for YMM state
+        __asm__("xgetbv" : "=a"(eax), "=d"(edx) : "c"(0));
+        if ((eax & 0x6) == 0x6) {
+            result = true;
+        }
+    }
+    return result;    
+}
+
+static inline bool cpuSupportsAVX2() {
+    unsigned int eax, ebx, ecx, edx;
+
+    bool result = false;
+    if (cpuSupportsAVX()) {
+
+        if (__get_cpuid(0x7, &eax, &ebx, &ecx, &edx) && ((ebx & MASK_AVX2) == MASK_AVX2)) {
+            result = true;
+        }
+    }
+    return result;    
+}
+
+#else
+
+static inline bool cpuSupportsSSE3() {
+    return false;
+}
+
+static inline bool cpuSupportsSSSE3() {
+    return false;
+}
+
+static inline bool cpuSupportsSSE41() {
+    return false;
+}
+
+static inline bool cpuSupportsSSE42() {
+    return false;
+}
+
+static inline bool cpuSupportsAVX() {
+    return false;
+}
+
+static inline bool cpuSupportsAVX2() {
+    return false;
+}
+
+#endif
+
+#endif // hifi_CPUDetect_h