diff --git a/tests/test_utils.py b/tests/test_utils.py
index 9fd7ed9e0f..64ab68bf74 100644
--- a/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 import numpy as np
 import torch
 from datasets import load_dataset
+from parameterized import parameterized
 from transformers import AutoModelForCausalLM, AutoTokenizer, GenerationConfig
 from transformers.testing_utils import require_peft
 from transformers.utils import is_peft_available
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@
     generate_model_card,
     get_peft_config,
     pad,
+    selective_log_softmax,
 )
 
 
@@ -506,3 +508,24 @@ def test_batch_accuracy(self):
         )
         accuracy = compute_token_accuracy(logits, labels)
         self.assertAlmostEqual(accuracy, 0.8)
+
+
+class TestSelectiveLogSoftmax(unittest.TestCase):
+    @parameterized.expand([(torch.float64,), (torch.float32,), (torch.float16,), (torch.bfloat16,)])
+    def test_selective_log_softmax(self, dtype):
+        """Test selective_log_softmax with logits of different dtypes"""
+        vocab_size = 1024
+        batch_size = 4
+        seq_len = 32
+
+        input_ids = torch.randint(low=0, high=vocab_size, size=(batch_size, seq_len))
+        logits = torch.randn(batch_size, seq_len, vocab_size, dtype=dtype)
+
+        expected_output = torch.gather(logits.log_softmax(-1), dim=-1, index=input_ids.unsqueeze(-1)).squeeze(-1)
+        actual_output = selective_log_softmax(logits, input_ids)
+
+        if dtype in [torch.float16, torch.bfloat16]:
+            # half-precision dtypes fall back to an exact method
+            self.assertTrue(torch.equal(actual_output, expected_output))
+        else:
+            torch.testing.assert_close(actual_output, expected_output, rtol=1e-5, atol=1e-5)
diff --git a/trl/trainer/bco_trainer.py b/trl/trainer/bco_trainer.py
index 18df4a7210..db4fa156e4 100644
--- a/trl/trainer/bco_trainer.py
+++ b/trl/trainer/bco_trainer.py
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@
     log_table_to_comet_experiment,
     pad_to_length,
     peft_module_casting_to_bf16,
+    selective_log_softmax,
 )
 
 
@@ -897,9 +898,11 @@ def _load_optimizer_and_scheduler(self, checkpoint):
     @contextmanager
     def null_ref_context(self):
         """Context manager for handling null reference model (that is, peft adapter manipulation)."""
-        with self.accelerator.unwrap_model(
-            self.model
-        ).disable_adapter() if self.is_peft_model and not self.ref_adapter_name else nullcontext():
+        with (
+            self.accelerator.unwrap_model(self.model).disable_adapter()
+            if self.is_peft_model and not self.ref_adapter_name
+            else nullcontext()
+        ):
             if self.ref_adapter_name:
                 self.model.set_adapter(self.ref_adapter_name)
             yield
@@ -1062,7 +1065,7 @@ def get_batch_logps(
         # dummy token; we'll ignore the losses on these tokens later
         labels[labels == label_pad_token_id] = 0
 
-        per_token_logps = torch.gather(logits.log_softmax(-1), dim=2, index=labels.unsqueeze(2)).squeeze(2)
+        per_token_logps = selective_log_softmax(logits, labels)
 
         if average_log_prob:
             return (per_token_logps * loss_mask).sum(-1) / loss_mask.sum(-1)
diff --git a/trl/trainer/cpo_trainer.py b/trl/trainer/cpo_trainer.py
index 644a2d5353..174cb4f255 100644
--- a/trl/trainer/cpo_trainer.py
+++ b/trl/trainer/cpo_trainer.py
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@
     log_table_to_comet_experiment,
     pad_to_length,
     peft_module_casting_to_bf16,
+    selective_log_softmax,
 )
 
 
@@ -711,7 +712,7 @@ def get_batch_logps(
         # dummy token; we'll ignore the losses on these tokens later
         labels[labels == label_pad_token_id] = 0
 
-        per_token_logps = torch.gather(logits.log_softmax(-1), dim=2, index=labels.unsqueeze(2)).squeeze(2)
+        per_token_logps = selective_log_softmax(logits, labels)
 
         if average_log_prob:
             return (per_token_logps * loss_mask).sum(-1) / loss_mask.sum(-1)
diff --git a/trl/trainer/dpo_trainer.py b/trl/trainer/dpo_trainer.py
index cd3c3b4dca..a16edb6f37 100644
--- a/trl/trainer/dpo_trainer.py
+++ b/trl/trainer/dpo_trainer.py
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@
     pad,
     pad_to_length,
     peft_module_casting_to_bf16,
+    selective_log_softmax,
 )
 
 
@@ -822,9 +823,11 @@ def get_eval_dataloader(self, eval_dataset: Optional[Dataset] = None) -> DataLoa
     @contextmanager
     def null_ref_context(self):
         """Context manager for handling null reference model (that is, peft adapter manipulation)."""
-        with self.accelerator.unwrap_model(
-            self.model
-        ).disable_adapter() if self.is_peft_model and not self.ref_adapter_name else nullcontext():
+        with (
+            self.accelerator.unwrap_model(self.model).disable_adapter()
+            if self.is_peft_model and not self.ref_adapter_name
+            else nullcontext()
+        ):
             if self.ref_adapter_name:
                 self.model.set_adapter(self.ref_adapter_name)
             yield
@@ -1211,7 +1214,7 @@ def concatenated_forward(self, model: nn.Module, batch: dict[str, Union[list, to
 
         # Compute the log probabilities of the labels
         labels[~loss_mask] = 0  # dummy token; we'll ignore the losses on these tokens later
-        per_token_logps = torch.gather(logits.log_softmax(-1), dim=2, index=labels.unsqueeze(2)).squeeze(2)
+        per_token_logps = selective_log_softmax(logits, labels)
         per_token_logps[~loss_mask] = 0
         per_token_logps = torch.roll(per_token_logps, shifts=1, dims=1)
 
diff --git a/trl/trainer/grpo_trainer.py b/trl/trainer/grpo_trainer.py
index 4cbba2fcaa..bab86f7bcc 100644
--- a/trl/trainer/grpo_trainer.py
+++ b/trl/trainer/grpo_trainer.py
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
 from ..models import create_reference_model, prepare_deepspeed, unwrap_model_for_generation
 from .callbacks import SyncRefModelCallback
 from .grpo_config import GRPOConfig
-from .utils import generate_model_card, get_comet_experiment_url, pad
+from .utils import generate_model_card, get_comet_experiment_url, pad, selective_log_softmax
 
 
 if is_peft_available():
@@ -442,12 +442,7 @@ def _get_per_token_logps(self, model, input_ids, attention_mask, logits_to_keep)
         # For transformers<=4.48, logits_to_keep argument isn't supported, so here we drop logits ourselves.
         # See https://github.com/huggingface/trl/issues/2770
         logits = logits[:, -logits_to_keep:]
-
-        # Compute the log probabilities for the input tokens.
-        token_logits = logits.gather(dim=-1, index=input_ids.unsqueeze(-1)).squeeze(-1)
-        logsumexp_values = torch.stack([torch.logsumexp(lg, dim=-1) for lg in logits])  # loop to reduce memory peak
-        token_log_probs = token_logits - logsumexp_values  # log_softmax = logits - log(sum(exp(logits)))
-        return token_log_probs
+        return selective_log_softmax(logits, input_ids)  #  compute logprobs for the input tokens
 
     def _prepare_inputs(self, inputs: dict[str, Union[torch.Tensor, Any]]) -> dict[str, Union[torch.Tensor, Any]]:
         device = self.accelerator.device
diff --git a/trl/trainer/kto_trainer.py b/trl/trainer/kto_trainer.py
index c45a88d554..0c92ad70b8 100644
--- a/trl/trainer/kto_trainer.py
+++ b/trl/trainer/kto_trainer.py
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@
     log_table_to_comet_experiment,
     pad_to_length,
     peft_module_casting_to_bf16,
+    selective_log_softmax,
 )
 
 
@@ -812,9 +813,11 @@ def _prepare_deepspeed(self, model: PreTrainedModelWrapper):
     @contextmanager
     def null_ref_context(self):
         """Context manager for handling null reference model (that is, peft adapter manipulation)."""
-        with self.accelerator.unwrap_model(
-            self.model
-        ).disable_adapter() if self.is_peft_model and not self.ref_adapter_name else nullcontext():
+        with (
+            self.accelerator.unwrap_model(self.model).disable_adapter()
+            if self.is_peft_model and not self.ref_adapter_name
+            else nullcontext()
+        ):
             if self.ref_adapter_name:
                 self.model.set_adapter(self.ref_adapter_name)
             yield
@@ -1032,7 +1035,7 @@ def get_batch_logps(
         # dummy token; we'll ignore the losses on these tokens later
         labels[labels == label_pad_token_id] = 0
 
-        per_token_logps = torch.gather(logits.log_softmax(-1), dim=2, index=labels.unsqueeze(2)).squeeze(2)
+        per_token_logps = selective_log_softmax(logits, labels)
 
         if average_log_prob:
             return (per_token_logps * loss_mask).sum(-1) / loss_mask.sum(-1)
diff --git a/trl/trainer/nash_md_trainer.py b/trl/trainer/nash_md_trainer.py
index cbe218066e..5d2a8e830d 100644
--- a/trl/trainer/nash_md_trainer.py
+++ b/trl/trainer/nash_md_trainer.py
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
     generate_model_card,
     get_comet_experiment_url,
     get_reward,
+    selective_log_softmax,
     truncate_right,
 )
 
@@ -277,8 +278,7 @@ def _compute_logprobs(self, model, model_data, context_length):
         def compute_logprobs_for_data(m, data):
             output = m(data["input_ids"], attention_mask=data["attention_mask"])
             logits = output.logits[:, context_length - 1 : -1]
-            logprobs = F.log_softmax(logits, dim=-1)
-            token_logprobs = torch.gather(logprobs, 2, data["input_ids"][:, context_length:].unsqueeze(-1)).squeeze(-1)
+            token_logprobs = selective_log_softmax(logits, data["input_ids"][:, context_length:])
             return token_logprobs
 
         # Compute logprobs for model completions under the model
diff --git a/trl/trainer/orpo_trainer.py b/trl/trainer/orpo_trainer.py
index 832927d05c..72436d321d 100644
--- a/trl/trainer/orpo_trainer.py
+++ b/trl/trainer/orpo_trainer.py
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@
     log_table_to_comet_experiment,
     pad_to_length,
     peft_module_casting_to_bf16,
+    selective_log_softmax,
 )
 
 
@@ -718,7 +719,7 @@ def get_batch_logps(
         # dummy token; we'll ignore the losses on these tokens later
         labels = torch.where(labels == label_pad_token_id, 0, labels)
 
-        per_token_logps = torch.gather(logits.log_softmax(-1), dim=2, index=labels.unsqueeze(2)).squeeze(2)
+        per_token_logps = selective_log_softmax(logits, labels)
 
         if average_log_prob:
             return (per_token_logps * loss_mask).sum(-1) / loss_mask.sum(-1)
diff --git a/trl/trainer/ppo_trainer.py b/trl/trainer/ppo_trainer.py
index 27cbdd016c..cf7f6768a6 100644
--- a/trl/trainer/ppo_trainer.py
+++ b/trl/trainer/ppo_trainer.py
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@
 import pandas as pd
 import torch
 import torch.nn as nn
-import torch.nn.functional as F
 from accelerate import Accelerator
 from accelerate.utils import broadcast, gather_object
 from datasets import Dataset
@@ -65,6 +64,7 @@
     peft_module_casting_to_bf16,
     prepare_deepspeed,
     print_rich_table,
+    selective_log_softmax,
     truncate_response,
 )
 
@@ -310,9 +310,11 @@ def get_eval_dataloader(self) -> DataLoader:
     @contextmanager
     def null_ref_context(self):
         """Context manager for handling null reference model (that is, peft adapter manipulation)."""
-        with self.accelerator.unwrap_model(
-            self.model.policy
-        ).disable_adapter() if self.is_peft_model and not self.ref_adapter_name else nullcontext():
+        with (
+            self.accelerator.unwrap_model(self.model.policy).disable_adapter()
+            if self.is_peft_model and not self.ref_adapter_name
+            else nullcontext()
+        ):
             if self.ref_adapter_name:
                 self.model.policy.set_adapter(self.ref_adapter_name)
             yield
@@ -427,9 +429,8 @@ def repeat_generator():
                     query_response = query_responses[i : i + args.local_rollout_forward_batch_size]
                     response = query_response[:, context_length:]
                     logits = logitss[i : i + args.local_rollout_forward_batch_size]
-                    all_logprob = F.log_softmax(logits, dim=-1)
-                    logprob = torch.gather(all_logprob, 2, response.unsqueeze(-1)).squeeze(-1)
-                    del logits, all_logprob
+                    logprob = selective_log_softmax(logits, response)
+                    del logits
                     torch.cuda.empty_cache()
 
                     if ref_policy is None:
@@ -439,9 +440,8 @@ def repeat_generator():
                         ref_output = forward(ref_policy, query_response, processing_class.pad_token_id)
                     ref_logits = ref_output.logits[:, context_length - 1 : -1]
                     ref_logits /= args.temperature + 1e-7
-                    ref_all_logprob = F.log_softmax(ref_logits, dim=-1)
-                    ref_logprob = torch.gather(ref_all_logprob, 2, response.unsqueeze(-1)).squeeze(-1)
-                    del ref_output, ref_logits, ref_all_logprob
+                    ref_logprob = selective_log_softmax(ref_logits, response)
+                    del ref_output, ref_logits
                     torch.cuda.empty_cache()
 
                     # Response Processing 1. truncate response after the first occurrence of `stop_token_id`
@@ -547,8 +547,7 @@ def repeat_generator():
                             output, vpred_temp = forward(model, mb_query_responses, processing_class.pad_token_id)
                             logits = output.logits[:, context_length - 1 : -1]
                             logits /= args.temperature + 1e-7
-                            new_all_logprobs = F.log_softmax(logits, dim=-1)
-                            new_logprobs = torch.gather(new_all_logprobs, 2, mb_responses.unsqueeze(-1)).squeeze(-1)
+                            new_logprobs = selective_log_softmax(logits, mb_responses)
                             new_logprobs = torch.masked_fill(
                                 new_logprobs, padding_mask[micro_batch_inds], INVALID_LOGPROB
                             )
@@ -599,7 +598,7 @@ def repeat_generator():
                     # del everything and empty cache
                     # fmt: off
                     del (
-                        output, vpred_temp, logits, new_all_logprobs, new_logprobs, vpred, vpredclipped,
+                        output, vpred_temp, logits, new_logprobs, vpred, vpredclipped,
                         vf_losses1, vf_losses2, vf_loss, vf_clipfrac, logprobs_diff, ratio, pg_losses, pg_losses2, pg_loss_max,
                         pg_loss, loss, pg_clipfrac, prob_dist, entropy, approxkl, mb_return,
                         mb_advantage, mb_values, mb_responses, mb_query_responses, mb_logprobs,
diff --git a/trl/trainer/rloo_trainer.py b/trl/trainer/rloo_trainer.py
index 6626baa15c..344253c2b8 100644
--- a/trl/trainer/rloo_trainer.py
+++ b/trl/trainer/rloo_trainer.py
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@
 import pandas as pd
 import torch
 import torch.nn as nn
-import torch.nn.functional as F
 from accelerate import Accelerator
 from accelerate.utils import broadcast, gather_object
 from datasets import Dataset
@@ -56,6 +55,7 @@
     get_reward,
     prepare_deepspeed,
     print_rich_table,
+    selective_log_softmax,
     truncate_response,
 )
 from .rloo_config import RLOOConfig
@@ -330,17 +330,15 @@ def repeat_generator():
                     query_response = query_responses[i : i + args.local_rollout_forward_batch_size]
                     response = query_response[:, context_length:]
                     logits = logitss[i : i + args.local_rollout_forward_batch_size]
-                    all_logprob = F.log_softmax(logits, dim=-1)
-                    logprob = torch.gather(all_logprob, 2, response.unsqueeze(-1)).squeeze(-1)
-                    del logits, all_logprob
+                    logprob = selective_log_softmax(logits, response)
+                    del logits
                     torch.cuda.empty_cache()
 
                     ref_output = forward(ref_policy, query_response, processing_class.pad_token_id)
                     ref_logits = ref_output.logits[:, context_length - 1 : -1]
                     ref_logits /= args.temperature + 1e-7
-                    ref_all_logprob = F.log_softmax(ref_logits, dim=-1)
-                    ref_logprob = torch.gather(ref_all_logprob, 2, response.unsqueeze(-1)).squeeze(-1)
-                    del ref_output, ref_logits, ref_all_logprob
+                    ref_logprob = selective_log_softmax(ref_logits, response)
+                    del ref_output, ref_logits
                     torch.cuda.empty_cache()
 
                     # Response Processing 1. truncate response after the first occurrence of `stop_token_id`
@@ -467,8 +465,7 @@ def repeat_generator():
                             logits /= args.temperature + 1e-7
 
                             # Compute new logprobs
-                            new_all_logprobs = F.log_softmax(logits, dim=-1)
-                            new_logprobs = torch.gather(new_all_logprobs, 2, mb_responses.unsqueeze(-1)).squeeze(-1)
+                            new_logprobs = selective_log_softmax(logits, mb_responses)
                             new_logprobs = torch.masked_fill(
                                 new_logprobs, padding_mask[micro_batch_inds], INVALID_LOGPROB
                             )
@@ -512,9 +509,8 @@ def repeat_generator():
                     # del everything and empty cache
                     # fmt: off
                     del (
-                        output, logits, new_all_logprobs, new_logprobs,
-                        logprobs_diff, ratio, pg_losses, pg_losses2,
-                        pg_loss, loss, pg_clipfrac, prob_dist, entropy, approxkl,
+                        output, logits, new_logprobs, logprobs_diff, ratio, pg_losses,
+                        pg_losses2, pg_loss, loss, pg_clipfrac, prob_dist, entropy, approxkl,
                         mb_advantage, mb_responses, mb_query_responses, mb_logprobs,
                     )
                     # fmt: on
diff --git a/trl/trainer/utils.py b/trl/trainer/utils.py
index 029e5639ab..ea603b9637 100644
--- a/trl/trainer/utils.py
+++ b/trl/trainer/utils.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 import numpy as np
 import pandas as pd
 import torch
+import torch.nn.functional as F
 import torch.utils.data
 from accelerate import Accelerator, PartialState
 from accelerate.state import AcceleratorState
@@ -1668,3 +1669,38 @@ def compute_token_accuracy(logits: torch.Tensor, labels: torch.Tensor, ignore_in
     accuracy = correct_tokens.item() / total_tokens.item() if total_tokens > 0 else 0.0
 
     return accuracy
+
+
+def selective_log_softmax(logits, index):
+    """
+    A memory-efficient implementation of the common `log_softmax -> gather` operation.
+
+    This function is equivalent to the following naive implementation:
+    ```python
+    logps = torch.gather(logits.log_softmax(-1), dim=-1, index=index.unsqueeze(-1)).squeeze(-1)
+    ```
+
+    Args:
+        logits (`torch.Tensor`):
+            Logits tensor of shape `(..., num_classes)`.
+        index (`torch.Tensor`):
+            Index tensor of shape `(...)`, specifying the positions to gather from the log-softmax output.
+
+    Returns:
+        `torch.Tensor`:
+            Gathered log probabilities with the same shape as `index`.
+    """
+    if logits.dtype in [torch.float32, torch.float64]:
+        selected_logits = torch.gather(logits, dim=-1, index=index.unsqueeze(-1)).squeeze(-1)
+        # loop to reduce peak mem consumption
+        logsumexp_values = torch.stack([torch.logsumexp(lg, dim=-1) for lg in logits])
+        per_token_logps = selected_logits - logsumexp_values  # log_softmax(x_i) = x_i - logsumexp(x)
+    else:
+        # logsumexp approach is unstable with bfloat16, fall back to slightly less efficent approach
+        per_token_logps = []
+        for row_logits, row_labels in zip(logits, index):  # loop to reduce peak mem consumption
+            row_logps = F.log_softmax(row_logits, dim=-1)
+            row_per_token_logps = row_logps.gather(dim=-1, index=row_labels.unsqueeze(-1)).squeeze(-1)
+            per_token_logps.append(row_per_token_logps)
+        per_token_logps = torch.stack(per_token_logps)
+    return per_token_logps
diff --git a/trl/trainer/xpo_trainer.py b/trl/trainer/xpo_trainer.py
index 2d535344e7..6c7579ae8a 100644
--- a/trl/trainer/xpo_trainer.py
+++ b/trl/trainer/xpo_trainer.py
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
     generate_model_card,
     get_comet_experiment_url,
     get_reward,
+    selective_log_softmax,
     truncate_right,
 )
 from .xpo_config import XPOConfig
@@ -274,8 +275,7 @@ def _compute_logprobs(self, model, model_data, ref_data, context_length):
         def compute_logprobs_for_data(m, data):
             output = m(data["input_ids"], attention_mask=data["attention_mask"])
             logits = output.logits[:, context_length - 1 : -1]
-            logprobs = F.log_softmax(logits, dim=-1)
-            token_logprobs = torch.gather(logprobs, 2, data["input_ids"][:, context_length:].unsqueeze(-1)).squeeze(-1)
+            token_logprobs = selective_log_softmax(logits, data["input_ids"][:, context_length:])
             return token_logprobs
 
         # Compute logprobs for model completions