GGUF vs ONNX vs MLX: Which Model Format Should You Use for Local Inference?
Raspberry Pi circuit board. Photo by Pexels, free to use. When you search for a small language model on HuggingFace, you’ll typically find the same model offered in three formats: GGUF, ONNX, and MLX. The names are not self-explanatory, the documentation is scattered, and picking the wrong one wastes time. This guide cuts through it. The short answer: GGUF for almost everything, MLX if you’re on Apple Silicon and want maximum speed, ONNX if you’re building a production app on Windows or deploying to a phone. Everything below explains why. ...