In one embodiment of the invention, a register format of a source register
operated on by a source instruction in a source block of code is
determined. The register format includes an input instruction format and
an output block format of the source block of code. The source block of
code runs in a source architecture. The source register has multiple
formats and is used as an input of the source instruction. The input
instruction format contains format of the source register expected by the
source instruction. The output block format contains format of the source
register after the source block of code is executed. An instruction
format inconsistency is detected between the source register and a target
register of a target architecture during a translation phase of a binary
translation that translates the source block of code into a target block
of code running in the target architecture.