CUDA Binary Utilities
Type: Technology Tags: NVIDIA, CUDA, binary utilities, cuobjdump, nvdisasm, nvprune, compiler tools Related: NVIDIA-CUDA, NVCC, PTX-ISA, CUDA-Driver-API, Nsight-Compute, Compute-Sanitizer Sources: https://docs.nvidia.com/cuda/cuda-binary-utilities/index.html Last Updated: 2026-04-29
Summary
CUDA Binary Utilities are NVIDIA tools for inspecting and manipulating compiled CUDA binary artifacts. The documentation covers tools such as cuobjdump, nvdisasm, cu++filt, and nvprune.
Detail
Purpose
CUDA performance and compiler investigations often require looking below source code at embedded cubins, PTX, symbols, and GPU assembly. CUDA Binary Utilities support that workflow by exposing what NVCC produced and what is packaged in CUDA binaries.
Key capabilities
- Inspect CUDA fat binaries and object files.
- Disassemble GPU machine code for architecture-specific analysis.
- Demangle CUDA/C++ symbols for readability.
- Prune unused code from CUDA binary artifacts.
- Compare compiler output when tuning for Hopper, Blackwell, or other GPU generations.
NVIDIA context
These tools complement Nsight-Compute and Compute-Sanitizer: Nsight explains performance behavior at runtime, while binary utilities reveal what the compiler emitted before runtime execution.
Connections
- NVCC - primary producer of CUDA binary artifacts.
- PTX-ISA - binary utilities help inspect PTX and lowered instruction paths.
- Nsight-Compute - profiling findings can be tied back to generated instructions.
- CUDA-Compile-Time-Advisor - compile-time and binary-level analysis are adjacent optimization tasks.
- NVIDIA-Blackwell-Architecture - architecture-specific tuning often needs binary inspection.
Source Excerpts
- NVIDIA’s CUDA Binary Utilities docs cover cuobjdump, nvdisasm, cu++filt, and nvprune.