Techniques for neural network processing using specialized data representation are disclosed. Input data for manipulation in a layer of a neural network is obtained. The input data includes image data, where the image data is represented in bfloat16 format without loss of precision. The manipulation of the input data is performed on a processor that supports single-precision operations. The input data is converted to a 16-bit reduced floating-point representation, where the reduced floating-point representation comprises an alternative single-precision data representation mode. The input data is manipulated with one or more 16-bit reduced floating-point data elements. The manipulation includes a multiply and add-accumulate operation. The manipulation further includes a unary operation, a binary operation, or a conversion operation. A result of the manipulating is forwarded to a next layer of the neural network.