This paper presents a novel source code transformation for control flow optimization called loop nest splitting which minimizes the number of executed if-statements in loop nests of embedded multimedia applications. The goal of the optimization is to reduce runtimes and energy consumption. The analysis techniques are based on precise mathematical models combined with genetic algorithms. Due to the inherent portability of source code transformations, a very detailed benchmarking using 10 different processors can be performed. The application of our implemented algorithms to three real-life multimedia benchmarks leads to average speed-ups by 23.6% - 62.1% and energy savings by 19.6% - 57.7%. Furthermore, our optimization also leads to advantageous pipeline and cache performance.