diff --git a/src/pcre2_jit_compile.c b/src/pcre2_jit_compile.c
index 9013b6864..c591d4def 100644
--- a/src/pcre2_jit_compile.c
+++ b/src/pcre2_jit_compile.c
@@ -6967,6 +6967,16 @@ if (common->match_end_ptr != 0)
   SELECT(SLJIT_GREATER, STR_END, TMP1, 0, STR_END);
   }
 
+#ifdef JIT_HAS_FAST_FORWARD_START_BITS_SIMD
+if (JIT_HAS_FAST_FORWARD_START_BITS_SIMD && common->mode == PCRE2_JIT_COMPLETE
+    && fast_forward_start_bits_simd(common, start_bits))
+  {
+  if (common->match_end_ptr != 0)
+    OP1(SLJIT_MOV, STR_END, 0, RETURN_ADDR, 0);
+  return;
+  }
+#endif
+
 start = LABEL();
 
 partial_quit = CMP(SLJIT_GREATER_EQUAL, STR_PTR, 0, STR_END, 0);
diff --git a/src/pcre2_jit_simd_inc.h b/src/pcre2_jit_simd_inc.h
index 0a24cdad8..b8fb98681 100644
--- a/src/pcre2_jit_simd_inc.h
+++ b/src/pcre2_jit_simd_inc.h
@@ -52,6 +52,52 @@ typedef enum {
   vector_compare_match2,
 } vector_compare_type;
 
+#if defined(SLJIT_CONFIG_X86_64) && SLJIT_CONFIG_X86_64 && PCRE2_CODE_UNIT_WIDTH == 8
+
+/* Largest number of ranges a start bitmap may be split into before the
+   vectorized scans give up on it. */
+#define MAX_START_BITS_RANGES 8
+
+typedef struct {
+  sljit_u32 low;
+  sljit_u32 high;
+} start_bits_range;
+
+/* Split a start bitmap into inclusive ranges of set bits, for the vectorized
+   start-bits scans below. Returns the number of ranges, or -1 if there are more
+   than max_ranges of them, in which case the caller must fall back to testing
+   the bitmap one code unit at a time. */
+
+static int extract_start_bits_ranges(const sljit_u8 *bits, start_bits_range *ranges, int max_ranges)
+{
+int count = 0;
+int i = 0;
+
+SLJIT_ASSERT(max_ranges <= MAX_START_BITS_RANGES);
+
+while (i < 256)
+  {
+  if ((bits[i >> 3] & (1 << (i & 0x7))) == 0)
+    {
+    i++;
+    continue;
+    }
+
+  if (count >= max_ranges)
+    return -1;
+
+  ranges[count].low = (sljit_u32)i;
+  while (i < 256 && (bits[i >> 3] & (1 << (i & 0x7))) != 0)
+    i++;
+  ranges[count].high = (sljit_u32)(i - 1);
+  count++;
+  }
+
+return count;
+}
+
+#endif /* SLJIT_CONFIG_X86_64 && PCRE2_CODE_UNIT_WIDTH == 8 */
+
 #if (defined SLJIT_CONFIG_X86 && SLJIT_CONFIG_X86)
 static SLJIT_INLINE sljit_s32 max_fast_forward_char_pair_offset(void)
 {
@@ -373,6 +419,194 @@ if (common->utf && offset > 0)
 #endif
 }
 
+#if defined(SLJIT_CONFIG_X86_64) && SLJIT_CONFIG_X86_64 && PCRE2_CODE_UNIT_WIDTH == 8
+
+#define JIT_HAS_FAST_FORWARD_START_BITS_SIMD 1
+
+/* Number of ranges the vectorized start-bits scan will handle. Each one costs
+   two vector registers for its bounds; beyond this the byte-at-a-time bitmap
+   scan is likely to be the better option anyway, since every extra range adds
+   three instructions to each loop iteration. */
+#define X86_START_BITS_MAX_RANGES 4
+
+/* Largest number of accepted code units before the class counts as dense and
+   the byte-at-a-time scan is left to do the job. */
+#define X86_START_BITS_MAX_COVERED 48
+
+/* Emit an SSE2 instruction operating on two vector registers. A REX prefix is
+   needed for xmm8 and above, which the start-bits scan reaches as soon as it
+   holds the bounds of more than two ranges. */
+static SLJIT_INLINE void emit_sse2_op(struct sljit_compiler *compiler, sljit_u8 opcode,
+  sljit_s32 dst_ind, sljit_s32 src_ind)
+{
+sljit_u8 instruction[5];
+int size = 0;
+
+instruction[size++] = 0x66;
+
+if (dst_ind >= 8 || src_ind >= 8)
+  instruction[size++] = (sljit_u8)(0x40 | ((dst_ind >= 8) ? 0x4 : 0) | ((src_ind >= 8) ? 0x1 : 0));
+
+instruction[size++] = 0x0f;
+instruction[size++] = opcode;
+instruction[size++] = (sljit_u8)(0xc0 | ((dst_ind & 0x7) << 3) | (src_ind & 0x7));
+sljit_emit_op_custom(compiler, instruction, size);
+}
+
+/* Emit the byte mask for one range into dst, given the data in src.
+   For a single character this is one PCMPEQB. For a range it is the standard
+   unsigned-range idiom: subtract the low bound so the range starts at zero,
+   then a saturating subtract of the span leaves zero exactly for the bytes
+   inside it. Values below the low bound wrap to something larger than the span,
+   so they saturate to non-zero and are correctly excluded. */
+static void emit_x86_class_range(struct sljit_compiler *compiler, sljit_s32 dst_ind,
+  sljit_s32 src_ind, sljit_s32 zero_ind, sljit_s32 low_ind, sljit_s32 span_ind, BOOL single)
+{
+/* MOVDQA dst, src */
+emit_sse2_op(compiler, 0x6f, dst_ind, src_ind);
+
+if (single)
+  {
+  /* PCMPEQB dst, low */
+  emit_sse2_op(compiler, 0x74, dst_ind, low_ind);
+  return;
+  }
+
+/* PSUBB dst, low */
+emit_sse2_op(compiler, 0xf8, dst_ind, low_ind);
+/* PSUBUSB dst, span */
+emit_sse2_op(compiler, 0xd8, dst_ind, span_ind);
+/* PCMPEQB dst, zero */
+emit_sse2_op(compiler, 0x74, dst_ind, zero_ind);
+}
+
+/* Scan for the first code unit whose start bit is set, 16 bytes at a time.
+   Returns FALSE without emitting anything if the bitmap does not reduce to few
+   enough ranges, in which case the caller emits its own scan. */
+static BOOL fast_forward_start_bits_simd(compiler_common *common, const sljit_u8 *start_bits)
+{
+DEFINE_COMPILER;
+sljit_u8 instruction[4];
+sljit_s32 reg_type = SLJIT_SIMD_REG_128;
+struct sljit_label *start;
+struct sljit_jump *quit;
+start_bits_range ranges[X86_START_BITS_MAX_RANGES];
+sljit_s32 tmp1_reg_ind = sljit_get_register_index(SLJIT_GP_REGISTER, TMP1);
+sljit_s32 data_ind = sljit_get_register_index(reg_type, SLJIT_VR0);
+sljit_s32 zero_ind = sljit_get_register_index(reg_type, SLJIT_VR1);
+sljit_s32 acc_ind = sljit_get_register_index(reg_type, SLJIT_VR2);
+sljit_s32 tmp_ind = sljit_get_register_index(reg_type, SLJIT_VR3);
+sljit_s32 low_ind[X86_START_BITS_MAX_RANGES];
+sljit_s32 span_ind[X86_START_BITS_MAX_RANGES];
+BOOL single[X86_START_BITS_MAX_RANGES];
+sljit_s32 value;
+int count, covered, k;
+
+count = extract_start_bits_ranges(start_bits, ranges, X86_START_BITS_MAX_RANGES);
+if (count <= 0)
+  return FALSE;
+
+/* A vector scan only pays when it gets to scan. The byte-at-a-time loop stops
+   at the first code unit in the class, so for a dense class it usually stops
+   immediately, while this loop has already tested a whole block. Count the
+   code units the class accepts and leave the dense ones alone: \w covers 63 of
+   them and is common enough in real subjects to matter. */
+covered = 0;
+for (k = 0; k < count; k++)
+  covered += (int)(ranges[k].high - ranges[k].low) + 1;
+
+if (covered > X86_START_BITS_MAX_COVERED)
+  return FALSE;
+
+/* Load the bounds. A single character needs only one register, so pack the
+   pairs from VR4 upwards and record what each range got. */
+value = SLJIT_SIMD_REG_128 | SLJIT_SIMD_ELEM_32 | SLJIT_SIMD_LANE_ZERO;
+
+for (k = 0; k < count; k++)
+  {
+  sljit_s32 low_reg = SLJIT_VR4 + (k * 2);
+  sljit_s32 span_reg = SLJIT_VR4 + (k * 2) + 1;
+
+  single[k] = (ranges[k].low == ranges[k].high);
+
+  sljit_emit_simd_lane_mov(compiler, value, low_reg, 0, SLJIT_IMM,
+    character_to_int32((PCRE2_UCHAR)ranges[k].low));
+  sljit_emit_simd_lane_replicate(compiler, reg_type | SLJIT_SIMD_ELEM_32, low_reg, low_reg, 0);
+  low_ind[k] = sljit_get_register_index(reg_type, low_reg);
+
+  span_ind[k] = low_ind[k];
+  if (!single[k])
+    {
+    sljit_emit_simd_lane_mov(compiler, value, span_reg, 0, SLJIT_IMM,
+      character_to_int32((PCRE2_UCHAR)(ranges[k].high - ranges[k].low)));
+    sljit_emit_simd_lane_replicate(compiler, reg_type | SLJIT_SIMD_ELEM_32, span_reg, span_reg, 0);
+    span_ind[k] = sljit_get_register_index(reg_type, span_reg);
+    }
+  }
+
+/* PXOR zero, zero */
+emit_sse2_op(compiler, 0xef, zero_ind, zero_ind);
+
+OP1(SLJIT_MOV, TMP2, 0, STR_PTR, 0);
+
+/* First part (unaligned start). */
+OP2(SLJIT_AND, STR_PTR, 0, STR_PTR, 0, SLJIT_IMM, ~0xf);
+OP2(SLJIT_AND, TMP2, 0, TMP2, 0, SLJIT_IMM, 0xf);
+
+sljit_emit_simd_mov(compiler, reg_type | SLJIT_SIMD_MEM_ALIGNED_128, SLJIT_VR0, SLJIT_MEM1(STR_PTR), 0);
+
+emit_x86_class_range(compiler, acc_ind, data_ind, zero_ind, low_ind[0], span_ind[0], single[0]);
+for (k = 1; k < count; k++)
+  {
+  emit_x86_class_range(compiler, tmp_ind, data_ind, zero_ind, low_ind[k], span_ind[k], single[k]);
+  /* POR acc, tmp */
+  emit_sse2_op(compiler, 0xeb, acc_ind, tmp_ind);
+  }
+
+sljit_emit_simd_sign(compiler, SLJIT_SIMD_STORE | reg_type | SLJIT_SIMD_ELEM_8, SLJIT_VR2, TMP1, 0);
+OP2(SLJIT_ADD, STR_PTR, 0, STR_PTR, 0, TMP2, 0);
+OP2(SLJIT_LSHR, TMP1, 0, TMP1, 0, TMP2, 0);
+
+quit = CMP(SLJIT_NOT_ZERO, TMP1, 0, SLJIT_IMM, 0);
+
+OP2(SLJIT_SUB, STR_PTR, 0, STR_PTR, 0, TMP2, 0);
+
+/* Second part (aligned). */
+start = LABEL();
+
+OP2(SLJIT_ADD, STR_PTR, 0, STR_PTR, 0, SLJIT_IMM, 16);
+
+add_jump(compiler, &common->failed_match, CMP(SLJIT_GREATER_EQUAL, STR_PTR, 0, STR_END, 0));
+
+sljit_emit_simd_mov(compiler, reg_type | SLJIT_SIMD_MEM_ALIGNED_128, SLJIT_VR0, SLJIT_MEM1(STR_PTR), 0);
+
+emit_x86_class_range(compiler, acc_ind, data_ind, zero_ind, low_ind[0], span_ind[0], single[0]);
+for (k = 1; k < count; k++)
+  {
+  emit_x86_class_range(compiler, tmp_ind, data_ind, zero_ind, low_ind[k], span_ind[k], single[k]);
+  emit_sse2_op(compiler, 0xeb, acc_ind, tmp_ind);
+  }
+
+sljit_emit_simd_sign(compiler, SLJIT_SIMD_STORE | reg_type | SLJIT_SIMD_ELEM_8, SLJIT_VR2, TMP1, 0);
+CMPTO(SLJIT_ZERO, TMP1, 0, SLJIT_IMM, 0, start);
+
+JUMPHERE(quit);
+
+SLJIT_ASSERT(tmp1_reg_ind < 8);
+/* BSF r32, r/m32 */
+instruction[0] = 0x0f;
+instruction[1] = 0xbc;
+instruction[2] = 0xc0 | (tmp1_reg_ind << 3) | tmp1_reg_ind;
+sljit_emit_op_custom(compiler, instruction, 3);
+
+OP2(SLJIT_ADD, STR_PTR, 0, STR_PTR, 0, TMP1, 0);
+
+add_jump(compiler, &common->failed_match, CMP(SLJIT_GREATER_EQUAL, STR_PTR, 0, STR_END, 0));
+return TRUE;
+}
+
+#endif /* SLJIT_CONFIG_X86_64 && PCRE2_CODE_UNIT_WIDTH == 8 */
+
 /* The AVX2 code path is currently disabled.
 #define JIT_HAS_FAST_REQUESTED_CHAR_SIMD (sljit_has_cpu_feature(SLJIT_HAS_SIMD))
 */