Principle:Ollama Ollama GGUF Assembly

Knowledge Sources	Ollama GGUF Spec
Domains	Format_Conversion, Binary_Formats
Last Updated	2026-02-14 00:00 GMT

Overview

A binary file assembly mechanism that encodes model metadata and tensor data into the GGUF (GGML Universal Format) binary format for use with llama.cpp-based inference engines.

Description

GGUF Assembly is the final step in model format conversion. It takes the complete metadata key-value map and the list of processed tensors and writes them into a single binary file following the GGUF specification.

The GGUF format consists of:

• Header: Magic number, version, tensor count, metadata KV count.
• Metadata: Typed key-value pairs (strings, integers, floats, arrays).
• Tensor Descriptors: Name, shape, data type, and offset for each tensor.
• Tensor Data: Raw tensor data aligned to appropriate boundaries.

The assembly may also involve tensor splitting (splitting combined QKV weights) and merging (combining separate Q, K, V into QKV).

Usage

Use this principle when producing GGUF files from converted model data. GGUF is the standard format for llama.cpp and all compatible inference engines including Ollama.

Theoretical Basis

GGUF file structure:

+-------------------+
| Header            |
|   magic: GGUF     |
|   version: 3      |
|   n_tensors       |
|   n_kv            |
+-------------------+
| Metadata KV pairs |
|   key: type:value |
|   ...             |
+-------------------+
| Tensor descriptors|
|   name, shape,    |
|   dtype, offset   |
+-------------------+
| Padding/alignment |
+-------------------+
| Tensor data       |
|   (aligned)       |
+-------------------+

Related Pages

Implemented By

• Implementation:Ollama_Ollama_WriteGGUF