diff --git a/faiss/impl/ScalarQuantizer.cpp b/faiss/impl/ScalarQuantizer.cpp
index 6a6ca3b5a2..f9e793c68e 100644
--- a/faiss/impl/ScalarQuantizer.cpp
+++ b/faiss/impl/ScalarQuantizer.cpp
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 #include <algorithm>
 
 #include <omp.h>
+#include <faiss/impl/platform_macros.h>
 
 #ifdef __SSE__
 #include <immintrin.h>
diff --git a/faiss/impl/platform_macros.h b/faiss/impl/platform_macros.h
index e9910e6356..1f4795c65c 100644
--- a/faiss/impl/platform_macros.h
+++ b/faiss/impl/platform_macros.h
@@ -49,8 +49,27 @@ inline int __builtin_clzll(uint64_t x) {
     return (int)__lzcnt64(x);
 }
 
+#define __builtin_popcount __popcnt
 #define __builtin_popcountl __popcnt64
 
+// MSVC does not define __SSEx__, and _M_IX86_FP is only defined on 32-bit processors
+// cf. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/preprocessor/predefined-macros
+#ifdef __AVX__
+#define __SSE__ 1
+#define __SSE2__ 1
+#define __SSE3__ 1
+#define __SSE4_1__ 1
+#define __SSE4_2__ 1
+#endif
+
+// MSVC sets FMA and F16C automatically when using AVX2
+// Ref. FMA (under /arch:AVX2): https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/build/reference/arch-x64
+// Ref. F16C (2nd paragraph): https://walbourn.github.io/directxmath-avx2/
+#ifdef __AVX2__
+#define __FMA__ 1
+#define __F16C__ 1
+#endif
+
 #else
 /*******************************************************
  * Linux and OSX
diff --git a/faiss/utils/distances_simd.cpp b/faiss/utils/distances_simd.cpp
index 21bbb5c01d..06fc9203c7 100644
--- a/faiss/utils/distances_simd.cpp
+++ b/faiss/utils/distances_simd.cpp
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 
 #include <faiss/utils/simdlib.h>
 #include <faiss/impl/FaissAssert.h>
+#include <faiss/impl/platform_macros.h>
 
 #ifdef __SSE3__
 #include <immintrin.h>
@@ -165,7 +166,7 @@ void fvec_inner_products_ny_ref (float * ip,
 static inline __m128 masked_read (int d, const float *x)
 {
     assert (0 <= d && d < 4);
-    __attribute__((__aligned__(16))) float buf[4] = {0, 0, 0, 0};
+    ALIGNED(16) float buf[4] = {0, 0, 0, 0};
     switch (d) {
       case 3:
         buf[2] = x[2];
@@ -987,7 +988,7 @@ void compute_PQ_dis_tables_dsub2(
 
             simd8float32 centroids[8];
             for (int k = 0; k < 8; k++) {
-                float centroid[8] __attribute__((aligned(32)));
+                ALIGNED(32) float centroid[8];
                 size_t wp = 0;
                 size_t rp = (m0 * ksub + k + k0) * 2;
                 for (int m = m0; m < m1; m++) {