Qwen · vision language

Qwen3-VL-2B-Thinking

Qwen/Qwen3-VL-2B-Thinking

Qwen3-VL-2B-Thinking at Q4_K_M is exactly 1,107,409,888 bytes (1.03 GiB / 1.11 GB) — an effective 4.164 bits per weight, not the nominal 4. Its KV cache at 32K is 3.50 GiB.

From the file· summed from 1 file(s)From the file· KV per layer
Parameters
2.1B
Architecture
qwen3vl
28 layers
Context
262,144
native (config.json)
License
apache-2.0

Shipped quantizations

exact bytes, summed from published files
QuantSizeExact bytesEffective bpwTensorsPublisher
UD-IQ1_S0.50 GiB537,831,5842.022unsloth
UD-IQ1_S0.50 GiB537,831,7442.022unsloth
UD-IQ1_M0.52 GiB561,948,8322.113unsloth
UD-IQ1_M0.52 GiB561,948,9922.113unsloth
UD-IQ2_XXS0.56 GiB605,792,4162.278unsloth
UD-IQ2_XXS0.56 GiB605,792,5762.278unsloth
UD-IQ2_M0.66 GiB708,716,7042.665unsloth
UD-IQ2_M0.66 GiB708,716,8642.665unsloth
UD-IQ3_XXS0.71 GiB765,175,9682.877unsloth
UD-IQ3_XXS0.71 GiB765,176,1282.877unsloth
Q2_K0.72 GiB777,797,7922.925unsloth
Q2_K_L0.72 GiB777,797,7922.925unsloth
Q2_K_L0.72 GiB777,797,9522.925unsloth
Q2_K0.72 GiB777,797,9522.925unsloth
Q3_K_S0.81 GiB867,254,4323.261unsloth
Q3_K_S0.81 GiB867,254,5923.261unsloth
Q3_K_M0.88 GiB939,540,6403.533unsloth
Q3_K_M0.88 GiB939,540,8003.533unsloth
IQ4_XS0.94 GiB1,010,385,0563.799unsloth
IQ4_XS0.94 GiB1,010,385,2163.799unsloth
IQ4_NL0.98 GiB1,054,425,2483.965unsloth
IQ4_NL0.98 GiB1,054,425,4083.965unsloth
Q4_00.98 GiB1,056,784,5443.974unsloth
Q4_00.98 GiB1,056,784,7043.974unsloth
Q4_K_S0.99 GiB1,060,192,4163.987unsloth
Q4_K_S0.99 GiB1,060,192,5763.987unsloth
Q4_K_M1.03 GiB1,107,409,8884.164Qwen
Q4_K_M1.03 GiB1,107,411,1044.164unsloth
Q4_K_M1.03 GiB1,107,411,2644.164unsloth
Q4_11.06 GiB1,142,505,6324.296unsloth
Q4_11.06 GiB1,142,505,7924.296unsloth
Q5_K_S1.15 GiB1,230,586,0164.627unsloth
Q5_K_S1.15 GiB1,230,586,1764.627unsloth
Q5_K_M1.17 GiB1,257,881,7604.730unsloth
Q5_K_M1.17 GiB1,257,881,9204.730unsloth
Q6_K1.32 GiB1,417,756,8325.331unsloth
Q6_K1.32 GiB1,417,756,9925.331unsloth
Q8_01.71 GiB1,834,427,3606.898Qwen
Q8_01.71 GiB1,834,428,5766.898unsloth
Q8_01.71 GiB1,834,428,7366.898unsloth

KV cache by context

computed per layer
ContextKV cache (f16)Flat formulaOverstated byFull / windowed / recurrent
4,0960.44 GiB0.44 GiB28 / 0 / 0
8,1920.88 GiB0.88 GiB28 / 0 / 0
16,3841.75 GiB1.75 GiB28 / 0 / 0
32,7683.50 GiB3.50 GiB28 / 0 / 0
65,5367.00 GiB7.00 GiB28 / 0 / 0
131,07214.00 GiB14.00 GiB28 / 0 / 0

Compare with

same modality, comparable size

Will it run on your card?

full quant x context sweep

Why other calculators give a different number

A parameters × bits ÷ 8 estimate puts Q4_K_M at roughly 1.11 GiB. The real file is 1.03 GiB, because a quantization is a mixture and some tensors are always kept at higher precision.

Architecture

from config.json
Layers
28
Attention heads
16
KV heads
8
Head dim
128
Hidden size
2048
Vocab
151,936
Sliding window
none
SWA period
MLA
no
Experts
Experts per token
use_sliding_window

Questions people ask

How much VRAM does Qwen3-VL-2B-Thinking need?
Q4_K_M is exactly 1,107,409,888 bytes (1.03 GiB) in weights. Add the KV cache, which depends on your context length, plus roughly half a gigabyte of runtime overhead.
How large is Qwen3-VL-2B-Thinking's KV cache?
3.50 GiB at 32K context with an f16 cache, computed per layer. Quantizing the cache to q8_0 roughly halves it, which is often the difference between a context length fitting and not.
Which quantization of Qwen3-VL-2B-Thinking should I use?
Q4_K_M is the usual default. Pick the largest quantization that fits your card at the context you actually need — the table above gives exact sizes for every one published.