diff --git a/drivers/net/bnxt/bnxt_reps.c b/drivers/net/bnxt/bnxt_reps.c
index f7bbf77d3f..34febc2d1e 100644
--- a/drivers/net/bnxt/bnxt_reps.c
+++ b/drivers/net/bnxt/bnxt_reps.c
@@ -186,7 +186,8 @@ int bnxt_representor_init(struct rte_eth_dev *eth_dev, void *params)
 
 	eth_dev->data->dev_flags |= RTE_ETH_DEV_REPRESENTOR |
 					RTE_ETH_DEV_AUTOFILL_QUEUE_XSTATS;
-	eth_dev->data->representor_id = rep_params->vf_id;
+	eth_dev->data->representor_id = rte_eth_representor_id_encode(
+		0, 0, RTE_ETH_REPRESENTOR_VF, rep_params->vf_id);
 
 	rte_eth_random_addr(vf_rep_bp->dflt_mac_addr);
 	memcpy(vf_rep_bp->mac_addr, vf_rep_bp->dflt_mac_addr,
diff --git a/drivers/net/enic/enic_vf_representor.c b/drivers/net/enic/enic_vf_representor.c
index c2c03c0281..632317af15 100644
--- a/drivers/net/enic/enic_vf_representor.c
+++ b/drivers/net/enic/enic_vf_representor.c
@@ -674,7 +674,8 @@ int enic_vf_representor_init(struct rte_eth_dev *eth_dev, void *init_params)
 	eth_dev->dev_ops = &enic_vf_representor_dev_ops;
 	eth_dev->data->dev_flags |= RTE_ETH_DEV_REPRESENTOR |
 					RTE_ETH_DEV_AUTOFILL_QUEUE_XSTATS;
-	eth_dev->data->representor_id = vf->vf_id;
+	eth_dev->data->representor_id = rte_eth_representor_id_encode(
+		0, 0, RTE_ETH_REPRESENTOR_VF, vf->vf_id);
 	eth_dev->data->mac_addrs = rte_zmalloc("enic_mac_addr_vf",
 		sizeof(struct rte_ether_addr) *
 		ENIC_UNICAST_PERFECT_FILTERS, 0);
diff --git a/drivers/net/i40e/i40e_vf_representor.c b/drivers/net/i40e/i40e_vf_representor.c
index 9e40406a3d..d90d0fdb9d 100644
--- a/drivers/net/i40e/i40e_vf_representor.c
+++ b/drivers/net/i40e/i40e_vf_representor.c
@@ -510,7 +510,8 @@ i40e_vf_representor_init(struct rte_eth_dev *ethdev, void *init_params)
 
 	ethdev->data->dev_flags |= RTE_ETH_DEV_REPRESENTOR |
 					RTE_ETH_DEV_AUTOFILL_QUEUE_XSTATS;
-	ethdev->data->representor_id = representor->vf_id;
+	ethdev->data->representor_id = rte_eth_representor_id_encode(
+			0, 0, RTE_ETH_REPRESENTOR_VF, representor->vf_id);
 
 	/* Setting the number queues allocated to the VF */
 	ethdev->data->nb_rx_queues = vf->vsi->nb_qps;
diff --git a/drivers/net/ixgbe/ixgbe_vf_representor.c b/drivers/net/ixgbe/ixgbe_vf_representor.c
index 8185f0d3bb..e15b794761 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ixgbe/ixgbe_vf_representor.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ixgbe/ixgbe_vf_representor.c
@@ -196,7 +196,8 @@ ixgbe_vf_representor_init(struct rte_eth_dev *ethdev, void *init_params)
 		return -ENODEV;
 
 	ethdev->data->dev_flags |= RTE_ETH_DEV_REPRESENTOR;
-	ethdev->data->representor_id = representor->vf_id;
+	ethdev->data->representor_id = rte_eth_representor_id_encode(
+			0, 0, RTE_ETH_REPRESENTOR_VF, representor->vf_id);
 
 	/* Set representor device ops */
 	ethdev->dev_ops = &ixgbe_vf_representor_dev_ops;
diff --git a/drivers/net/mlx5/linux/mlx5_os.c b/drivers/net/mlx5/linux/mlx5_os.c
index 6981ba1f41..7739a1b0a5 100644
--- a/drivers/net/mlx5/linux/mlx5_os.c
+++ b/drivers/net/mlx5/linux/mlx5_os.c
@@ -1031,7 +1031,9 @@ mlx5_dev_spawn(struct rte_device *dpdk_dev,
 #endif
 	/* representor_id field keeps the unmodified VF index. */
 	priv->representor_id = switch_info->representor ?
-			       switch_info->port_name : -1;
+		rte_eth_representor_id_encode(0, 0, RTE_ETH_REPRESENTOR_VF,
+					      switch_info->port_name) :
+		-1;
 	/*
 	 * Look for sibling devices in order to reuse their switch domain
 	 * if any, otherwise allocate one.
diff --git a/lib/librte_ethdev/ethdev_private.c b/lib/librte_ethdev/ethdev_private.c
index 95f1ab847a..57e84a34af 100644
--- a/lib/librte_ethdev/ethdev_private.c
+++ b/lib/librte_ethdev/ethdev_private.c
@@ -93,10 +93,13 @@ rte_eth_devargs_process_list(char *str, uint16_t *list, uint16_t *len_list,
 }
 
 /*
- * representor format:
+ * Parse representor ports, expand and update representor port ID.
+ * Representor format:
  *   #: range or single number of VF representor - legacy
  *   [[c#]pf#]vf#: VF port representor/s
  *   [[c#]pf#]sf#: SF port representor/s
+ *
+ * See RTE_ETH_REPR() for representor ID format.
  */
 int
 rte_eth_devargs_parse_representor_ports(char *str, void *data)
diff --git a/lib/librte_ethdev/rte_class_eth.c b/lib/librte_ethdev/rte_class_eth.c
index efe6149df5..994db96960 100644
--- a/lib/librte_ethdev/rte_class_eth.c
+++ b/lib/librte_ethdev/rte_class_eth.c
@@ -66,8 +66,8 @@ eth_representor_cmp(const char *key __rte_unused,
 	int ret;
 	char *values;
 	const struct rte_eth_dev_data *data = opaque;
-	struct rte_eth_devargs representors;
-	uint16_t index;
+	struct rte_eth_devargs eth_da;
+	uint16_t index, c, p, f;
 
 	if ((data->dev_flags & RTE_ETH_DEV_REPRESENTOR) == 0)
 		return -1; /* not a representor port */
@@ -76,17 +76,39 @@ eth_representor_cmp(const char *key __rte_unused,
 	values = strdup(value);
 	if (values == NULL)
 		return -1;
-	memset(&representors, 0, sizeof(representors));
-	ret = rte_eth_devargs_parse_representor_ports(values, &representors);
+	memset(&eth_da, 0, sizeof(eth_da));
+	ret = rte_eth_devargs_parse_representor_ports(values, &eth_da);
 	free(values);
 	if (ret != 0)
 		return -1; /* invalid devargs value */
 
+	/* Set default values. */
+	if (eth_da.nb_mh_controllers == 0) {
+		eth_da.nb_mh_controllers = 1;
+		eth_da.mh_controllers[0] = 0;
+	}
+	if (eth_da.nb_ports == 0) {
+		eth_da.nb_ports = 1;
+		eth_da.ports[0] = 0;
+	}
+	if (eth_da.nb_representor_ports == 0) {
+		eth_da.nb_representor_ports = 1;
+		eth_da.representor_ports[0] = 0;
+	}
 	/* Return 0 if representor id is matching one of the values. */
-	for (index = 0; index < representors.nb_representor_ports; index++)
-		if (data->representor_id ==
-				representors.representor_ports[index])
-			return 0;
+	for (c = 0; c < eth_da.nb_mh_controllers; ++c) {
+		for (p = 0; p < eth_da.nb_ports; ++p) {
+			for (f = 0; f < eth_da.nb_representor_ports; ++f) {
+				index = rte_eth_representor_id_encode(
+					eth_da.mh_controllers[c],
+					eth_da.ports[p],
+					eth_da.type,
+					eth_da.representor_ports[f]);
+				if (data->representor_id == index)
+					return 0;
+			}
+		}
+	}
 	return -1; /* no match */
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/librte_ethdev/rte_ethdev.c b/lib/librte_ethdev/rte_ethdev.c
index 2ac51ac149..276f42e54b 100644
--- a/lib/librte_ethdev/rte_ethdev.c
+++ b/lib/librte_ethdev/rte_ethdev.c
@@ -5556,6 +5556,32 @@ rte_eth_devargs_parse(const char *dargs, struct rte_eth_devargs *eth_da)
 	return result;
 }
 
+uint16_t
+rte_eth_representor_id_encode(uint16_t controller, uint16_t pf,
+			      enum rte_eth_representor_type type,
+			      uint16_t representor_port)
+{
+	return (((controller & 3) << 14) |
+		((pf & 3) << 12) |
+		(!!(type == RTE_ETH_REPRESENTOR_SF) << 11) |
+		(representor_port & 0x7ff));
+}
+
+uint16_t
+rte_eth_representor_id_parse(const uint16_t representor_id,
+			     uint16_t *controller, uint16_t *pf,
+			     enum rte_eth_representor_type *type)
+{
+	if (controller)
+		*controller = (representor_id >> 14) & 3;
+	if (pf)
+		*pf = (representor_id >> 12) & 3;
+	if (type)
+		*type = ((representor_id >> 11) & 1) ?
+			RTE_ETH_REPRESENTOR_SF : RTE_ETH_REPRESENTOR_VF;
+	return representor_id & 0x7ff;
+}
+
 static int
 eth_dev_handle_port_list(const char *cmd __rte_unused,
 		const char *params __rte_unused,
diff --git a/lib/librte_ethdev/rte_ethdev_driver.h b/lib/librte_ethdev/rte_ethdev_driver.h
index b9e4a0b9ba..d557b763b6 100644
--- a/lib/librte_ethdev/rte_ethdev_driver.h
+++ b/lib/librte_ethdev/rte_ethdev_driver.h
@@ -1218,6 +1218,57 @@ struct rte_eth_devargs {
 	enum rte_eth_representor_type type; /* type of representor */
 };
 
+/**
+ * PMD helper function to encode representor ID
+ *
+ * The compact format is used for device iterator that comparing
+ * ethdev representor ID with target devargs.
+ *
+ * xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx
+ * |||| |LLL LLLL LLLL vf/sf id
+ * |||| L 1:sf, 0:vf
+ * ||LL pf id
+ * LL controller(host) id
+ *
+ * @param controller
+ *  Controller ID.
+ * @param pf
+ *  PF port ID.
+ * @param type
+ *  Representor type.
+ * @param representor_port
+ *  Representor port ID.
+ *
+ * @return
+ *   Encoded representor ID.
+ */
+__rte_internal
+uint16_t
+rte_eth_representor_id_encode(uint16_t controller, uint16_t pf,
+			      enum rte_eth_representor_type type,
+			      uint16_t representor_port);
+
+/**
+ * PMD helper function to parse representor ID
+ *
+ * @param representor_id
+ *  Representor ID.
+ * @param controller
+ *  Parsed controller ID.
+ * @param pf
+ *  Parsed PF port ID.
+ * @param type
+ *  Parsed representor type.
+ *
+ * @return
+ *   Parsed representor port ID.
+ */
+__rte_internal
+uint16_t
+rte_eth_representor_id_parse(const uint16_t representor_id,
+			     uint16_t *controller, uint16_t *pf,
+			     enum rte_eth_representor_type *type);
+
 /**
  * PMD helper function to parse ethdev arguments
  *
diff --git a/lib/librte_ethdev/version.map b/lib/librte_ethdev/version.map
index d3f5410806..44edaed507 100644
--- a/lib/librte_ethdev/version.map
+++ b/lib/librte_ethdev/version.map
@@ -257,6 +257,8 @@ INTERNAL {
 	rte_eth_dev_release_port;
 	rte_eth_dev_internal_reset;
 	rte_eth_devargs_parse;
+	rte_eth_representor_id_encode;
+	rte_eth_representor_id_parse;
 	rte_eth_dma_zone_free;
 	rte_eth_dma_zone_reserve;
 	rte_eth_hairpin_queue_peer_bind;
