diff --git a/src/panfrost/bifrost/gen_disasm.py b/src/panfrost/bifrost/gen_disasm.py
index a4aa66a803b..f80a97fdcc1 100644
--- a/src/panfrost/bifrost/gen_disasm.py
+++ b/src/panfrost/bifrost/gen_disasm.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ import itertools
 from isa_parse import parse_instructions, opname_to_c, expand_states
 from mako.template import Template
 
-instructions = parse_instructions(sys.argv[1])
+instructions = parse_instructions(sys.argv[1], include_unused = True)
 
 # Constructs a reserved mask for a derived to cull impossible encodings
 
diff --git a/src/panfrost/bifrost/isa_parse.py b/src/panfrost/bifrost/isa_parse.py
index 9b4e8a68583..c0dccbc23e5 100644
--- a/src/panfrost/bifrost/isa_parse.py
+++ b/src/panfrost/bifrost/isa_parse.py
@@ -96,7 +96,8 @@ def parse_instruction(ins):
             'immediates': [],
             'swaps': [],
             'derived': [],
-            'staging': ins.attrib.get('staging', '')
+            'staging': ins.attrib.get('staging', ''),
+            'unused': ins.attrib.get('unused', False),
     }
 
     if 'exact' in ins.attrib:
@@ -146,12 +147,19 @@ def parse_instruction(ins):
 
     return variants
 
-def parse_instructions(xml):
+def parse_instructions(xml, include_unused = False):
     final = {}
     instructions = ET.parse(xml).getroot().findall('ins')
 
     for ins in instructions:
-        final[ins.attrib['name']] = parse_instruction(ins)
+        parsed = parse_instruction(ins)
+
+        # Some instructions are for useful disassembly only and can be stripped
+        # out of the compiler, particularly useful for release builds
+        if parsed[0][1]["unused"] and not include_unused:
+            continue
+
+        final[ins.attrib['name']] = parsed
 
     return final