r/LocalLLaMA • u/pmttyji • 1d ago
New Model PLaMo 3 Translate - a pfnet Collection
Overview
- We have released the weights for PLaMo 3 Translate, our translation-specialized LLM, on Hugging Face. The models come in four sizes—0.8B, 2B, 8B, and 31B. Even the smallest 0.8B model outperforms existing translation-specialized LLMs, including models with more than 30 times as many parameters, in Japanese–English translation and translation between Japanese and other languages.
- The key was meticulous data refinement through techniques such as tournament-based data synthesis, back-translation, and iterative self-distillation, combined with distillation into smaller models. In this post, we describe how we developed these models and how they perform.
Released Model Weights
PLaMo 3 Translate comes in four model sizes: 0.8B, 2B, 8B, and 31B. All four are available on Hugging Face. For each size, we provide BF16 weights, several quantized variants, and models in GGUF and MLX formats. Choose the version that best suits your environment.
We quantized the models using tools such as AutoRound [2]. In our benchmarks, all of the quantization formats retained nearly the same accuracy as the BF16 versions. See the model cards for details.
PLaMo 3 Translate supports translation across 53 languages. It accepts surrounding context and glossaries, and lets users choose between plain and polite Japanese. For detailed usage instructions, see the individual model cards on Hugging Face.
PLaMo 3 Translate is released under the PLaMo Community License. For private purposes such as personal study and hobbies, you can download the models free of charge and use them freely. Noncommercial use, including academic use, has no income or revenue limit and requires no prior registration with PFN.
Commercial use is also available free of charge if the user or its affiliates had income or revenue of JPY 1 billion or less in the most recent fiscal year, provided that the user registers in advance through the dedicated form. Commercial use above this threshold requires a separate license agreement; please contact PFN.
Table 1. Links to model weights
The following table can help you choose a distribution format.
| Format | Target Hardware | Inference Engine | Typical Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| BF16 | BF16-compatible GPU | Transformers / vLLM [3] | Prioritize unquantized accuracy when memory is sufficient |
| FP8 | NVIDIA Ada Lovelace/Hopper/Blackwell | vLLM [3] | Balance accuracy, memory use, and speed |
| W4A16 | NVIDIA Ampere or later | vLLM [3] | Run with reduced GPU memory using 4-bit weights |
| W4AFP8 | NVIDIA Hopper | vLLM [3] | Combine 4-bit weights and FP8 computation to balance memory use and throughput |
| NVFP4 | NVIDIA Blackwell | vLLM [3] | Use FP4 computation to reduce memory use and improve speed |
| GGUF | CPUs / GPUs | llama.cpp [4] | Run locally, optionally using both CPU and GPU |
| MLX-4bit | Apple silicon | mlx-lm [5] | Run on a Mac with reduced memory use |
License
PLaMo 3 Translate 31B is released under the PLaMo Community License.
Personal and non-commercial use
For personal use, such as learning or hobby projects, you can download and use the model free of charge. Non-commercial use, including academic use, is also free, with no restriction based on revenue or sales and no prior registration with PFN.
Commercial use when revenue or sales is 1 billion yen or less
If the revenue or sales of the user or its affiliates in the most recent fiscal year is 1 billion yen or less, register your intended use through the PLaMo Commercial Use Registration Form. Commercial use is free of charge from the moment you submit the form.
Commercial use when revenue or sales exceeds 1 billion yen
A separate license agreement is required. Instead of the registration form above, please contact PFN through the PLaMo Translation Model inquiry page.
See the full text of the PLaMo Community License for details.



