diff --git a/library/aes.c b/library/aes.c
index 91b6d431e..69da5828a 100644
--- a/library/aes.c
+++ b/library/aes.c
@@ -511,7 +511,7 @@ void mbedtls_aes_xts_free(mbedtls_aes_xts_context *ctx)
  * i.e. an offset of 1 means 4 bytes and so on.
  */
 #if (defined(MBEDTLS_PADLOCK_C) && defined(MBEDTLS_HAVE_X86)) ||        \
-    defined(MBEDTLS_HAVE_AESNI_INTRINSICS)
+    (defined(MBEDTLS_AESNI_C) && MBEDTLS_AESNI_HAVE_CODE == 2)
 #define MAY_NEED_TO_ALIGN
 #endif
 static unsigned mbedtls_aes_rk_offset(uint32_t *buf)
@@ -528,7 +528,7 @@ static unsigned mbedtls_aes_rk_offset(uint32_t *buf)
     }
 #endif
 
-#if defined(MBEDTLS_AESNI_C) && defined(MBEDTLS_HAVE_AESNI_INTRINSICS)
+#if defined(MBEDTLS_AESNI_C) && MBEDTLS_AESNI_HAVE_CODE == 2
     if (mbedtls_aesni_has_support(MBEDTLS_AESNI_AES)) {
         align_16_bytes = 1;
     }
diff --git a/library/aesni.c b/library/aesni.c
index e24527c82..a23c5b595 100644
--- a/library/aesni.c
+++ b/library/aesni.c
@@ -30,9 +30,9 @@
 
 #include <string.h>
 
-#if defined(MBEDTLS_HAVE_AESNI_INTRINSICS) || defined(MBEDTLS_HAVE_X86_64)
+#if defined(MBEDTLS_AESNI_HAVE_CODE)
 
-#if defined(MBEDTLS_HAVE_AESNI_INTRINSICS)
+#if MBEDTLS_AESNI_HAVE_CODE == 2
 #if !defined(_WIN32)
 #include <cpuid.h>
 #endif
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ int mbedtls_aesni_has_support(unsigned int what)
     static unsigned int c = 0;
 
     if (!done) {
-#if defined(MBEDTLS_HAVE_AESNI_INTRINSICS)
+#if MBEDTLS_AESNI_HAVE_CODE == 2
         static unsigned info[4] = { 0, 0, 0, 0 };
 #if defined(_MSC_VER)
         __cpuid(info, 1);
@@ -56,20 +56,20 @@ int mbedtls_aesni_has_support(unsigned int what)
         __cpuid(1, info[0], info[1], info[2], info[3]);
 #endif
         c = info[2];
-#else
+#else /* AESNI using asm */
         asm ("movl  $1, %%eax   \n\t"
              "cpuid             \n\t"
              : "=c" (c)
              :
              : "eax", "ebx", "edx");
-#endif
+#endif /* MBEDTLS_AESNI_HAVE_CODE */
         done = 1;
     }
 
     return (c & what) != 0;
 }
 
-#if defined(MBEDTLS_HAVE_AESNI_INTRINSICS)
+#if MBEDTLS_AESNI_HAVE_CODE == 2
 
 /*
  * AES-NI AES-ECB block en(de)cryption
@@ -388,7 +388,7 @@ static void aesni_setkey_enc_256(unsigned char *rk_bytes,
     aesni_set_rk_256(rk[12], rk[13], _mm_aeskeygenassist_si128(rk[13], 0x40), &rk[14], &rk[15]);
 }
 
-#else  /* MBEDTLS_HAVE_AESNI_INTRINSICS */
+#else /* MBEDTLS_AESNI_HAVE_CODE == 1 */
 
 #if defined(__has_feature)
 #if __has_feature(memory_sanitizer)
@@ -776,7 +776,7 @@ static void aesni_setkey_enc_256(unsigned char *rk,
          : "memory", "cc", "0");
 }
 
-#endif  /* MBEDTLS_HAVE_AESNI_INTRINSICS */
+#endif  /* MBEDTLS_AESNI_HAVE_CODE */
 
 /*
  * Key expansion, wrapper
@@ -795,6 +795,6 @@ int mbedtls_aesni_setkey_enc(unsigned char *rk,
     return 0;
 }
 
-#endif /* MBEDTLS_HAVE_X86_64 */
+#endif /* MBEDTLS_AESNI_HAVE_CODE */
 
 #endif /* MBEDTLS_AESNI_C */
diff --git a/library/aesni.h b/library/aesni.h
index c1c4bdd8f..a81a11725 100644
--- a/library/aesni.h
+++ b/library/aesni.h
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@
 #define MBEDTLS_AESNI_AES      0x02000000u
 #define MBEDTLS_AESNI_CLMUL    0x00000002u
 
+/* Can we do AESNI with inline assembly?
+ * (Only implemented with gas syntax, only for 64-bit.)
+ */
 #if defined(MBEDTLS_HAVE_ASM) && defined(__GNUC__) && \
     (defined(__amd64__) || defined(__x86_64__))   &&  \
     !defined(MBEDTLS_HAVE_X86_64)
@@ -40,19 +43,33 @@
 
 #if defined(MBEDTLS_AESNI_C)
 
-#if defined(MBEDTLS_HAVE_X86_64)
-#define MBEDTLS_AESNI_HAVE_CODE // via assembly
-#endif
-
+/* Can we do AESNI with intrinsics?
+ * (Only implemented with certain compilers, .)
+ */
+#undef MBEDTLS_AESNI_HAVE_INTRINSICS
 #if defined(_MSC_VER)
-#define MBEDTLS_HAVE_AESNI_INTRINSICS
+/* Visual Studio supports AESNI intrinsics since VS 2008 SP1. We only support
+ * VS 2013 and up for other reasons anyway, so no need to check the version. */
+#define MBEDTLS_AESNI_HAVE_INTRINSICS
 #endif
-#if defined(__GNUC__) && defined(__AES__)
-#define MBEDTLS_HAVE_AESNI_INTRINSICS
+/* GCC-like compilers: currently, we only support intrinsics if the requisite
+ * target flag is enabled when building the library (e.g. `gcc -mpclmul -msse2`
+ * or `clang -maes -mpclmul`). */
+#if defined(__GNUC__) && defined(__AES__) && defined(__PCLMUL__)
+#define MBEDTLS_AESNI_HAVE_INTRINSICS
 #endif
 
-#if defined(MBEDTLS_HAVE_AESNI_INTRINSICS)
-#define MBEDTLS_AESNI_HAVE_CODE // via intrinsics
+/* Choose the implementation of AESNI, if one is available. */
+#undef MBEDTLS_AESNI_HAVE_CODE
+/* To minimize disruption when releasing the intrinsics-based implementation,
+ * favor the assembly-based implementation if it's available. We intend to
+ * revise this in a later release of Mbed TLS 3.x. In the long run, we will
+ * likely remove the assembly implementation. */
+#if defined(MBEDTLS_HAVE_X86_64)
+#define MBEDTLS_AESNI_HAVE_CODE 1 // via assembly
+#endif
+#if defined(MBEDTLS_AESNI_HAVE_INTRINSICS)
+#define MBEDTLS_AESNI_HAVE_CODE 2 // via intrinsics
 #endif
 
 #if defined(MBEDTLS_AESNI_HAVE_CODE)