diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index d3f7ba99996f94ea5a5f40b1f3d685e6d4053d03..275b91bfbb4ff8d5994d938242e5f017bdc292e2 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -44,10 +44,12 @@ variables:
   ENCODER_TEST: ""
   DELTA_ODG: ""
   COMPARE_DMX: ""
+  SPLIT_COMPARISON: ""
   SKIP_REGRESSION_CHECK: ""
   FAILED_TESTCASES_LIST: "failed-testcases.txt"
   ERRORS_TESTCASES_LIST: "errors-testcases.txt"
   PYTEST_CACHE_ARTIFACT: "pytest_cache.zip"
+  MEASURES_FOR_REPORT: "MLD MAX_ABS_DIFF MIN_SSNR MIN_ODG"
   FLOAT_REF_COMMIT_FILE: "float-ref-git-sha.txt"
   CUT_COMMIT_FILE: "CuT-git-sha.txt"
   MERGE_TARGET_COMMIT_FILE: "merge-target-git-sha.txt"
@@ -370,10 +372,13 @@ stages:
   variables:
     # keep "mld" in artifact name for backwards compatibility reasons
     CSV_ARTIFACT_NAME: "mld--$CI_JOB_NAME-$CI_JOB_ID--sha-$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA.csv"
+    CSV_ARTIFACT_SPLIT: "mld--split--$CI_JOB_NAME-$CI_JOB_ID--sha-$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA.csv"
     MERGED_CSV_ARTIFACT_NAME: "$CI_JOB_NAME--merged_csv--$CI_JOB_ID.csv"
     PAGES_HTML_ARTIFACT_NAME: "$CI_JOB_NAME-index.html"
     SUMMARY_HTML_ARTIFACT_NAME: "summary_$CI_JOB_NAME.html"
+    SUMMARY_HTML_ARTIFACT_SPLIT: "summary_split_$CI_JOB_NAME.html"
     IMAGES_ARTIFACT_NAME: "images_$CI_JOB_NAME"
+    IMAGES_ARTIFACT_SPLIT: "images_split_$CI_JOB_NAME"
   script:
     - set -euxo pipefail
     - *print-common-info
@@ -394,14 +399,16 @@ stages:
     - if [ "$COMPARE_DMX" = "true" ] || [ "$ENCODER_TEST" = "true" ]; then
     -   BUILD_WITH_DEBUG_MODE_INFO="true"
     - fi
-    - *build-and-create-float-ref-outputs
 
     - INV_LEVEL_SCALING=$(awk "BEGIN {print 1.0 / $LEVEL_SCALING}")
     - comp_args="--mld --ssnr --odg --scalefac $INV_LEVEL_SCALING"
     - summary_args="MLD DIFF SSNR ODG"
     - REPORT_ARG=""
     - if [ "$ENCODER_TEST" = "true" ]; then comp_args="${comp_args} --enc_stats"; fi
-    - if [ "$DELTA_ODG" = "true" ]; then comp_args="${comp_args} --odg_bin"; summary_args="${summary_args} DELTA_ODG"; REPORT_ARG="--delta_odg"; fi
+    - if [ "$DELTA_ODG" = "true" ]; then comp_args="${comp_args} --odg_bin"; MEASURES_FOR_REPORT="$MEASURES_FOR_REPORT DELTA_ODG"; fi
+    - if [ "$SPLIT_COMPARISON" = "true" ]; then comp_args="${comp_args} --split-comparison"; fi
+
+    - *build-and-create-float-ref-outputs
 
     # DMX comparison only in manual job with no other metrics
     - if [ "$COMPARE_DMX" = "true" ]; then
@@ -415,10 +422,20 @@ stages:
     - python3 -m pytest --tb=no $TEST_SUITE -v --create_cut --html=report.html --self-contained-html --junit-xml=report-junit.xml $comp_args -n auto --testcase_timeout $testcase_timeout --ref_encoder_path $REF_ENCODER_PATH --ref_decoder_path $REF_DECODER_PATH --dut_encoder_path $DUT_ENCODER_PATH --dut_decoder_path $DUT_DECODER_PATH || exit_code=$?
     - zero_errors=$(cat report-junit.xml | grep -c 'errors="0"') || true
 
-    - python3 scripts/parse_xml_report.py report-junit.xml $CSV_ARTIFACT_NAME $REPORT_ARG
-    - mkdir $IMAGES_ARTIFACT_NAME
-    - for MEASURE in $summary_args;do python3 scripts/create_histogram_summary.py $CSV_ARTIFACT_NAME $IMAGES_ARTIFACT_NAME/summary_"$MEASURE".csv $IMAGES_ARTIFACT_NAME/summary_"$MEASURE".png --measure $MEASURE; done
-    - python3 ci/basop-pages/create_summary_page.py $SUMMARY_HTML_ARTIFACT_NAME $CI_JOB_ID $CI_JOB_NAME --measures $summary_args
+    ### create histograms
+    - python3 scripts/parse_xml_report.py report-junit.xml $CSV_ARTIFACT_NAME --split-csv-file $CSV_ARTIFACT_SPLIT
+
+    # first for "whole" files comparison
+    - python3 scripts/create_histograms.py $CSV_ARTIFACT_NAME $IMAGES_ARTIFACT_NAME --measures $MEASURES_FOR_REPORT --write-out-histograms
+    - python3 ci/basop-pages/create_summary_page.py $SUMMARY_HTML_ARTIFACT_NAME $CI_JOB_ID $CI_JOB_NAME $IMAGES_ARTIFACT_NAME --measures $MEASURES_FOR_REPORT
+
+    - if [ "$SPLIT_COMPARISON" = "true" ]; then
+    -   python3 scripts/create_histograms.py $CSV_ARTIFACT_SPLIT $IMAGES_ARTIFACT_SPLIT --measures $MEASURES_FOR_REPORT --write-out-histograms
+    -   python3 ci/basop-pages/create_summary_page.py $SUMMARY_HTML_ARTIFACT_SPLIT $CI_JOB_ID $CI_JOB_NAME $IMAGES_ARTIFACT_SPLIT --measures $MEASURES_FOR_REPORT
+    - else
+    # touch files to suppress warning for missing artifacts
+    -   touch $CSV_ARTIFACT_SPLIT $IMAGES_ARTIFACT_SPLIT
+    - fi
 
     - if [ $USE_LTV -eq 1 ] && [ "$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH" == "$CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH" ]; then
     -    id_previous=$(python3 ci/get_id_of_last_job_occurence.py $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH $CI_JOB_NAME $CI_PROJECT_ID)
@@ -458,9 +475,12 @@ stages:
       - report.html
       - $PAGES_HTML_ARTIFACT_NAME
       - $CSV_ARTIFACT_NAME
+      - $CSV_ARTIFACT_SPLIT
       - $MERGED_CSV_ARTIFACT_NAME
       - $SUMMARY_HTML_ARTIFACT_NAME
+      - $SUMMARY_HTML_ARTIFACT_SPLIT
       - $IMAGES_ARTIFACT_NAME
+      - $IMAGES_ARTIFACT_SPLIT
     expose_as: "pytest compare results"
     reports:
       junit:
@@ -652,9 +672,9 @@ stages:
     # Store branch outputs for comparison
     - mv tests/dut tests/dut_branch
 
-    # create the summary based on the branch
-    - for MEASURE in MLD DIFF SSNR ODG;do python3 scripts/create_histogram_summary.py $CSV_BRANCH $IMAGES_ARTIFACT_NAME/summary_"$MEASURE".csv $IMAGES_ARTIFACT_NAME/summary_"$MEASURE".png --measure $MEASURE; done
-    - python3 ci/basop-pages/create_summary_page.py $SUMMARY_HTML_ARTIFACT_NAME $CI_JOB_ID $CI_JOB_NAME
+    # create the summary based on the branch only
+    - python3 scripts/create_histograms.py $CSV_BRANCH $IMAGES_ARTIFACT_NAME --measures $MEASURES_FOR_REPORT
+    - python3 ci/basop-pages/create_summary_page.py $SUMMARY_HTML_ARTIFACT_NAME $CI_JOB_ID $CI_JOB_NAME $IMAGES_ARTIFACT_NAME --measures $MEASURES_FOR_REPORT
 
     ### run main now
     - git checkout $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME
@@ -816,8 +836,8 @@ stages:
 
     # create summary
     - mkdir $IMAGES_ARTIFACT_NAME
-    - for MEASURE in MLD DIFF SSNR ODG;do python3 scripts/create_histogram_summary.py report-diff.csv $IMAGES_ARTIFACT_NAME/summary_"$MEASURE".csv $IMAGES_ARTIFACT_NAME/summary_"$MEASURE".png --measure $MEASURE --diff; done
-    - python3 ci/basop-pages/create_summary_page.py $SUMMARY_HTML_ARTIFACT_NAME $CI_JOB_ID $CI_JOB_NAME
+    - python3 scripts/create_histograms.py report-diff.csv $IMAGES_ARTIFACT_NAME --measures $MEASURES_FOR_REPORT --write-out-histograms --no-bins
+    - python3 ci/basop-pages/create_summary_page.py $SUMMARY_HTML_ARTIFACT_NAME $CI_JOB_ID $CI_JOB_NAME $IMAGES_ARTIFACT_NAME --measures $MEASURES_FOR_REPORT
 
     - exit 0
 
@@ -1422,6 +1442,7 @@ ivas-pytest-compare_ref-long-enc:
     - DUT_DECODER_PATH=./$REF_DECODER_PATH
     - TEST_SUITE="$LONG_TEST_SUITE_ENCODER"
     - LEVEL_SCALING=1.0
+    - SPLIT_COMPARISON="true"
   <<: *ivas-pytest-anchor
   
 ivas-pytest-compare_ref-long-dec:
@@ -1433,6 +1454,7 @@ ivas-pytest-compare_ref-long-dec:
     - DUT_ENCODER_PATH=./$REF_ENCODER_PATH
     - TEST_SUITE="$LONG_TEST_SUITE"
     - LEVEL_SCALING=1.0
+    - SPLIT_COMPARISON="true"
   <<: *ivas-pytest-anchor
   
 ivas-pytest-compare_ref-long-enc-lev-10:
@@ -1444,6 +1466,7 @@ ivas-pytest-compare_ref-long-enc-lev-10:
     - DUT_DECODER_PATH=./$REF_DECODER_PATH
     - TEST_SUITE="$LONG_TEST_SUITE_ENCODER"
     - LEVEL_SCALING=0.3162
+    - SPLIT_COMPARISON="true"
   <<: *ivas-pytest-anchor
   
 ivas-pytest-compare_ref-long-dec-lev-10:
@@ -1455,6 +1478,7 @@ ivas-pytest-compare_ref-long-dec-lev-10:
     - DUT_ENCODER_PATH=./$REF_ENCODER_PATH
     - TEST_SUITE="$LONG_TEST_SUITE"
     - LEVEL_SCALING=0.3162
+    - SPLIT_COMPARISON="true"
   <<: *ivas-pytest-anchor
 
 ivas-pytest-compare_ref-long-enc-lev+10:
@@ -1466,6 +1490,7 @@ ivas-pytest-compare_ref-long-enc-lev+10:
     - DUT_DECODER_PATH=./$REF_DECODER_PATH
     - TEST_SUITE="$LONG_TEST_SUITE_ENCODER"
     - LEVEL_SCALING=3.162
+    - SPLIT_COMPARISON="true"
   <<: *ivas-pytest-anchor
   
 ivas-pytest-compare_ref-long-dec-lev+10:
@@ -1477,6 +1502,7 @@ ivas-pytest-compare_ref-long-dec-lev+10:
     - DUT_ENCODER_PATH=./$REF_ENCODER_PATH
     - TEST_SUITE="$LONG_TEST_SUITE"
     - LEVEL_SCALING=3.162
+    - SPLIT_COMPARISON="true"
   <<: *ivas-pytest-anchor
 
 ivas-smoke-test-saturation: