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Home/Glossary/GGUF

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GGUF

What it is

GGUF is a self-describing checkpoint format used widely by CPU and edge-oriented runtimes. One file can package model metadata, tokenizer information, and tensor data.

Why it moves cost and latency

Single-artifact distribution simplifies moving a model and its required metadata together. Many GGUF quantization types store weights in blocks with associated scale data.

What it looks like in practice

A compatible runtime reads the metadata, maps or loads tensors, and selects kernels for their stored types. Supported architectures and quantization layouts vary across runtimes.

Related terms

  • Quantization quality recovery->
  • Model loading->
  • SafeTensors->
  • Four-bit weight-only quantization->

Questions this definition answers

What does GGUF mean in inference serving?

GGUF is a self-describing checkpoint format used widely by CPU and edge-oriented runtimes. One file can package model metadata, tokenizer information, and tensor data. A compatible runtime reads the metadata, maps or loads tensors, and selects kernels for their stored types. Supported architectures and quantization layouts vary across runtimes.

Why can GGUF move cost or latency?

Single-artifact distribution simplifies moving a model and its required metadata together. Many GGUF quantization types store weights in blocks with associated scale data.

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