diff --git a/include/libcamera/base/utils.h b/include/libcamera/base/utils.h
index 3a803176693d..9ab18101cf27 100644
--- a/include/libcamera/base/utils.h
+++ b/include/libcamera/base/utils.h
@@ -346,6 +346,15 @@ public:
 	}
 };
 
+template<typename T>
+decltype(auto) abs_diff(const T &a, const T &b)
+{
+	if (a < b)
+		return b - a;
+	else
+		return a - b;
+}
+
 } /* namespace utils */
 
 #ifndef __DOXYGEN__
diff --git a/src/libcamera/base/utils.cpp b/src/libcamera/base/utils.cpp
index 45b92b670837..8cf8a5b2c104 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/base/utils.cpp
+++ b/src/libcamera/base/utils.cpp
@@ -437,6 +437,23 @@ std::string toAscii(const std::string &str)
  * \return True if \a Duration is a non-zero time value, False otherwise
  */
 
+/**
+ * \fn abs_diff(const T& a, const T& b)
+ * \brief Calculates the absolute value of the difference between two elements
+ * \param[in] a The first element
+ * \param[in] b The second element
+ *
+ * This function calculates the absolute value of the difference between two
+ * elements of the same type, in such a way that a negative value will never
+ * occur during the calculation.
+ *
+ * This is inspired by the std::abs_diff() candidate proposed in N4318
+ * (http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2014/n4318.pdf).
+ *
+ * \return The absolute value of the difference of the two parameters \a a and
+ * \a b
+ */
+
 } /* namespace utils */
 
 #ifndef __DOXYGEN__