diff --git a/tests/models/test_gguf_download.py b/tests/models/test_gguf_download.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..155768ac9bff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/models/test_gguf_download.py
@@ -0,0 +1,240 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright contributors to the vLLM project
+
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
+
+import pytest
+
+from vllm.config import ModelConfig
+from vllm.config.load import LoadConfig
+from vllm.model_executor.model_loader.gguf_loader import GGUFModelLoader
+from vllm.model_executor.model_loader.weight_utils import download_gguf
+
+
+class TestGGUFDownload:
+    """Test GGUF model downloading functionality."""
+
+    @patch("vllm.model_executor.model_loader.weight_utils.download_weights_from_hf")
+    def test_download_gguf_single_file(self, mock_download):
+        """Test downloading a single GGUF file."""
+        # Setup mock
+        mock_folder = "/tmp/mock_cache"
+        mock_download.return_value = mock_folder
+
+        # Mock glob to return a single file
+        with patch("glob.glob") as mock_glob:
+            mock_glob.side_effect = lambda pattern, **kwargs: (
+                [f"{mock_folder}/model-IQ1_S.gguf"] if "IQ1_S" in pattern else []
+            )
+
+            result = download_gguf("unsloth/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF", "IQ1_S")
+
+            # Verify download_weights_from_hf was called with correct patterns
+            mock_download.assert_called_once_with(
+                model_name_or_path="unsloth/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF",
+                cache_dir=None,
+                allow_patterns=[
+                    "*-IQ1_S.gguf",
+                    "*-IQ1_S-*.gguf",
+                    "*/*-IQ1_S.gguf",
+                    "*/*-IQ1_S-*.gguf",
+                ],
+                revision=None,
+                ignore_patterns=None,
+            )
+
+            # Verify result is the file path, not folder
+            assert result == f"{mock_folder}/model-IQ1_S.gguf"
+
+    @patch("vllm.model_executor.model_loader.weight_utils.download_weights_from_hf")
+    def test_download_gguf_sharded_files(self, mock_download):
+        """Test downloading sharded GGUF files."""
+        mock_folder = "/tmp/mock_cache"
+        mock_download.return_value = mock_folder
+
+        # Mock glob to return sharded files
+        with patch("glob.glob") as mock_glob:
+            mock_glob.side_effect = lambda pattern, **kwargs: (
+                [
+                    f"{mock_folder}/model-Q2_K-00001-of-00002.gguf",
+                    f"{mock_folder}/model-Q2_K-00002-of-00002.gguf",
+                ]
+                if "Q2_K" in pattern
+                else []
+            )
+
+            result = download_gguf("unsloth/gpt-oss-120b-GGUF", "Q2_K")
+
+            # Should return the first file after sorting
+            assert result == f"{mock_folder}/model-Q2_K-00001-of-00002.gguf"
+
+    @patch("vllm.model_executor.model_loader.weight_utils.download_weights_from_hf")
+    def test_download_gguf_subdir(self, mock_download):
+        """Test downloading GGUF files from subdirectory."""
+        mock_folder = "/tmp/mock_cache"
+        mock_download.return_value = mock_folder
+
+        with patch("glob.glob") as mock_glob:
+            mock_glob.side_effect = lambda pattern, **kwargs: (
+                [f"{mock_folder}/Q2_K/model-Q2_K.gguf"]
+                if "Q2_K" in pattern or "**/*.gguf" in pattern
+                else []
+            )
+
+            result = download_gguf("unsloth/gpt-oss-120b-GGUF", "Q2_K")
+
+            assert result == f"{mock_folder}/Q2_K/model-Q2_K.gguf"
+
+    @patch("vllm.model_executor.model_loader.weight_utils.download_weights_from_hf")
+    @patch("glob.glob", return_value=[])
+    def test_download_gguf_no_files_found(self, mock_glob, mock_download):
+        """Test error when no GGUF files are found."""
+        mock_folder = "/tmp/mock_cache"
+        mock_download.return_value = mock_folder
+
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="Downloaded GGUF files not found"):
+            download_gguf("unsloth/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF", "IQ1_S")
+
+
+class TestGGUFModelLoader:
+    """Test GGUFModelLoader class methods."""
+
+    @patch("os.path.isfile", return_value=True)
+    def test_prepare_weights_local_file(self, mock_isfile):
+        """Test _prepare_weights with local file."""
+        load_config = LoadConfig(load_format="gguf")
+        loader = GGUFModelLoader(load_config)
+
+        # Create a simple mock ModelConfig with only the model attribute
+        model_config = MagicMock()
+        model_config.model = "/path/to/model.gguf"
+
+        result = loader._prepare_weights(model_config)
+        assert result == "/path/to/model.gguf"
+        mock_isfile.assert_called_once_with("/path/to/model.gguf")
+
+    @patch("vllm.model_executor.model_loader.gguf_loader.hf_hub_download")
+    @patch("os.path.isfile", return_value=False)
+    def test_prepare_weights_https_url(self, mock_isfile, mock_hf_download):
+        """Test _prepare_weights with HTTPS URL."""
+        load_config = LoadConfig(load_format="gguf")
+        loader = GGUFModelLoader(load_config)
+
+        mock_hf_download.return_value = "/downloaded/model.gguf"
+
+        # Create a simple mock ModelConfig with only the model attribute
+        model_config = MagicMock()
+        model_config.model = "https://huggingface.co/model.gguf"
+
+        result = loader._prepare_weights(model_config)
+        assert result == "/downloaded/model.gguf"
+        mock_hf_download.assert_called_once_with(
+            url="https://huggingface.co/model.gguf"
+        )
+
+    @patch("vllm.model_executor.model_loader.gguf_loader.hf_hub_download")
+    @patch("os.path.isfile", return_value=False)
+    def test_prepare_weights_repo_filename(self, mock_isfile, mock_hf_download):
+        """Test _prepare_weights with repo_id/filename.gguf format."""
+        load_config = LoadConfig(load_format="gguf")
+        loader = GGUFModelLoader(load_config)
+
+        mock_hf_download.return_value = "/downloaded/model.gguf"
+
+        # Create a simple mock ModelConfig with only the model attribute
+        model_config = MagicMock()
+        model_config.model = "unsloth/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF/model.gguf"
+
+        result = loader._prepare_weights(model_config)
+        assert result == "/downloaded/model.gguf"
+        mock_hf_download.assert_called_once_with(
+            repo_id="unsloth/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF", filename="model.gguf"
+        )
+
+    @patch("vllm.config.model.get_hf_image_processor_config", return_value=None)
+    @patch("vllm.transformers_utils.config.file_or_path_exists", return_value=True)
+    @patch("vllm.config.model.get_config")
+    @patch("vllm.config.model.is_gguf", return_value=True)
+    @patch("vllm.model_executor.model_loader.gguf_loader.download_gguf")
+    @patch("os.path.isfile", return_value=False)
+    def test_prepare_weights_repo_quant_type(
+        self,
+        mock_isfile,
+        mock_download_gguf,
+        mock_is_gguf,
+        mock_get_config,
+        mock_file_exists,
+        mock_get_image_config,
+    ):
+        """Test _prepare_weights with repo_id:quant_type format."""
+        mock_hf_config = MagicMock()
+        mock_hf_config.architectures = ["Qwen3ForCausalLM"]
+
+        class MockTextConfig:
+            max_position_embeddings = 4096
+            sliding_window = None
+            model_type = "qwen3"
+            num_attention_heads = 32
+
+        mock_text_config = MockTextConfig()
+        mock_hf_config.get_text_config.return_value = mock_text_config
+        mock_hf_config.dtype = "bfloat16"
+        mock_get_config.return_value = mock_hf_config
+
+        load_config = LoadConfig(load_format="gguf")
+        loader = GGUFModelLoader(load_config)
+
+        mock_download_gguf.return_value = "/downloaded/model-IQ1_S.gguf"
+
+        model_config = ModelConfig(
+            model="unsloth/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF:IQ1_S", tokenizer="Qwen/Qwen3-0.6B"
+        )
+        result = loader._prepare_weights(model_config)
+        # The actual result will be the downloaded file path from mock
+        assert result == "/downloaded/model-IQ1_S.gguf"
+        mock_download_gguf.assert_called_once_with(
+            "unsloth/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF",
+            "IQ1_S",
+            cache_dir=None,
+            revision=None,
+            ignore_patterns=["original/**/*"],
+        )
+
+    @patch("vllm.config.model.get_hf_image_processor_config", return_value=None)
+    @patch("vllm.config.model.get_config")
+    @patch("vllm.config.model.is_gguf", return_value=False)
+    @patch("vllm.transformers_utils.utils.check_gguf_file", return_value=False)
+    @patch("os.path.isfile", return_value=False)
+    def test_prepare_weights_invalid_format(
+        self,
+        mock_isfile,
+        mock_check_gguf,
+        mock_is_gguf,
+        mock_get_config,
+        mock_get_image_config,
+    ):
+        """Test _prepare_weights with invalid format."""
+        mock_hf_config = MagicMock()
+        mock_hf_config.architectures = ["Qwen3ForCausalLM"]
+
+        class MockTextConfig:
+            max_position_embeddings = 4096
+            sliding_window = None
+            model_type = "qwen3"
+            num_attention_heads = 32
+
+        mock_text_config = MockTextConfig()
+        mock_hf_config.get_text_config.return_value = mock_text_config
+        mock_hf_config.dtype = "bfloat16"
+        mock_get_config.return_value = mock_hf_config
+
+        load_config = LoadConfig(load_format="gguf")
+        loader = GGUFModelLoader(load_config)
+
+        # Create ModelConfig with a valid repo_id to avoid validation errors
+        # Then test _prepare_weights with invalid format
+        model_config = ModelConfig(model="unsloth/Qwen3-0.6B")
+        # Manually set model to invalid format after creation
+        model_config.model = "invalid-format"
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="Unrecognised GGUF reference"):
+            loader._prepare_weights(model_config)
diff --git a/tests/transformers_utils/test_utils.py b/tests/transformers_utils/test_utils.py
index bfe1cec76c13..a8d0b9be9ec2 100644
--- a/tests/transformers_utils/test_utils.py
+++ b/tests/transformers_utils/test_utils.py
@@ -1,11 +1,17 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 # SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright contributors to the vLLM project
+from pathlib import Path
+from unittest.mock import patch
 
+import pytest
 
 from vllm.transformers_utils.utils import (
     is_cloud_storage,
     is_gcs,
+    is_gguf,
+    is_remote_gguf,
     is_s3,
+    split_remote_gguf,
 )
 
 
@@ -28,3 +34,143 @@ def test_is_cloud_storage():
     assert is_cloud_storage("s3://model-path/path-to-model")
     assert not is_cloud_storage("/unix/local/path")
     assert not is_cloud_storage("nfs://nfs-fqdn.local")
+
+
+class TestIsRemoteGGUF:
+    """Test is_remote_gguf utility function."""
+
+    def test_is_remote_gguf_with_colon_and_slash(self):
+        """Test is_remote_gguf with repo_id:quant_type format."""
+        # Valid quant types
+        assert is_remote_gguf("unsloth/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF:IQ1_S")
+        assert is_remote_gguf("user/repo:Q2_K")
+        assert is_remote_gguf("repo/model:Q4_K")
+        assert is_remote_gguf("repo/model:Q8_0")
+
+        # Invalid quant types should return False
+        assert not is_remote_gguf("repo/model:quant")
+        assert not is_remote_gguf("repo/model:INVALID")
+        assert not is_remote_gguf("repo/model:invalid_type")
+
+    def test_is_remote_gguf_without_colon(self):
+        """Test is_remote_gguf without colon."""
+        assert not is_remote_gguf("repo/model")
+        assert not is_remote_gguf("unsloth/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF")
+
+    def test_is_remote_gguf_without_slash(self):
+        """Test is_remote_gguf without slash."""
+        assert not is_remote_gguf("model.gguf")
+        # Even with valid quant_type, no slash means not remote GGUF
+        assert not is_remote_gguf("model:IQ1_S")
+        assert not is_remote_gguf("model:quant")
+
+    def test_is_remote_gguf_local_path(self):
+        """Test is_remote_gguf with local file path."""
+        assert not is_remote_gguf("/path/to/model.gguf")
+        assert not is_remote_gguf("./model.gguf")
+
+    def test_is_remote_gguf_with_path_object(self):
+        """Test is_remote_gguf with Path object."""
+        assert is_remote_gguf(Path("unsloth/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF:IQ1_S"))
+        assert not is_remote_gguf(Path("repo/model"))
+
+    def test_is_remote_gguf_with_http_https(self):
+        """Test is_remote_gguf with HTTP/HTTPS URLs."""
+        # HTTP/HTTPS URLs should return False even with valid quant_type
+        assert not is_remote_gguf("http://example.com/repo/model:IQ1_S")
+        assert not is_remote_gguf("https://huggingface.co/repo/model:Q2_K")
+        assert not is_remote_gguf("http://repo/model:Q4_K")
+        assert not is_remote_gguf("https://repo/model:Q8_0")
+
+    def test_is_remote_gguf_with_cloud_storage(self):
+        """Test is_remote_gguf with cloud storage paths."""
+        # Cloud storage paths should return False even with valid quant_type
+        assert not is_remote_gguf("s3://bucket/repo/model:IQ1_S")
+        assert not is_remote_gguf("gs://bucket/repo/model:Q2_K")
+        assert not is_remote_gguf("s3://repo/model:Q4_K")
+        assert not is_remote_gguf("gs://repo/model:Q8_0")
+
+
+class TestSplitRemoteGGUF:
+    """Test split_remote_gguf utility function."""
+
+    def test_split_remote_gguf_valid(self):
+        """Test split_remote_gguf with valid repo_id:quant_type format."""
+        repo_id, quant_type = split_remote_gguf("unsloth/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF:IQ1_S")
+        assert repo_id == "unsloth/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF"
+        assert quant_type == "IQ1_S"
+
+        repo_id, quant_type = split_remote_gguf("repo/model:Q2_K")
+        assert repo_id == "repo/model"
+        assert quant_type == "Q2_K"
+
+    def test_split_remote_gguf_with_path_object(self):
+        """Test split_remote_gguf with Path object."""
+        repo_id, quant_type = split_remote_gguf(Path("unsloth/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF:IQ1_S"))
+        assert repo_id == "unsloth/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF"
+        assert quant_type == "IQ1_S"
+
+    def test_split_remote_gguf_invalid(self):
+        """Test split_remote_gguf with invalid format."""
+        # Invalid format (no colon) - is_remote_gguf returns False
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="Wrong GGUF model"):
+            split_remote_gguf("repo/model")
+
+        # Invalid quant type - is_remote_gguf returns False
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="Wrong GGUF model"):
+            split_remote_gguf("repo/model:INVALID_TYPE")
+
+        # HTTP URL - is_remote_gguf returns False
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="Wrong GGUF model"):
+            split_remote_gguf("http://repo/model:IQ1_S")
+
+        # Cloud storage - is_remote_gguf returns False
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="Wrong GGUF model"):
+            split_remote_gguf("s3://bucket/repo/model:Q2_K")
+
+
+class TestIsGGUF:
+    """Test is_gguf utility function."""
+
+    @patch("vllm.transformers_utils.utils.check_gguf_file", return_value=True)
+    def test_is_gguf_with_local_file(self, mock_check_gguf):
+        """Test is_gguf with local GGUF file."""
+        assert is_gguf("/path/to/model.gguf")
+        assert is_gguf("./model.gguf")
+
+    def test_is_gguf_with_remote_gguf(self):
+        """Test is_gguf with remote GGUF format."""
+        # Valid remote GGUF format (repo_id:quant_type with valid quant_type)
+        assert is_gguf("unsloth/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF:IQ1_S")
+        assert is_gguf("repo/model:Q2_K")
+        assert is_gguf("repo/model:Q4_K")
+
+        # Invalid quant_type should return False
+        assert not is_gguf("repo/model:quant")
+        assert not is_gguf("repo/model:INVALID")
+
+    @patch("vllm.transformers_utils.utils.check_gguf_file", return_value=False)
+    def test_is_gguf_false(self, mock_check_gguf):
+        """Test is_gguf returns False for non-GGUF models."""
+        assert not is_gguf("unsloth/Qwen3-0.6B")
+        assert not is_gguf("repo/model")
+        assert not is_gguf("model")
+
+    def test_is_gguf_edge_cases(self):
+        """Test is_gguf with edge cases."""
+        # Empty string
+        assert not is_gguf("")
+
+        # Only colon, no slash (even with valid quant_type)
+        assert not is_gguf("model:IQ1_S")
+
+        # Only slash, no colon
+        assert not is_gguf("repo/model")
+
+        # HTTP/HTTPS URLs
+        assert not is_gguf("http://repo/model:IQ1_S")
+        assert not is_gguf("https://repo/model:Q2_K")
+
+        # Cloud storage
+        assert not is_gguf("s3://bucket/repo/model:IQ1_S")
+        assert not is_gguf("gs://bucket/repo/model:Q2_K")
diff --git a/vllm/config/model.py b/vllm/config/model.py
index caa9a3440c41..14ffdec2e09d 100644
--- a/vllm/config/model.py
+++ b/vllm/config/model.py
@@ -39,7 +39,12 @@ from vllm.transformers_utils.gguf_utils import (
     maybe_patch_hf_config_from_gguf,
 )
 from vllm.transformers_utils.runai_utils import ObjectStorageModel, is_runai_obj_uri
-from vllm.transformers_utils.utils import check_gguf_file, maybe_model_redirect
+from vllm.transformers_utils.utils import (
+    is_gguf,
+    is_remote_gguf,
+    maybe_model_redirect,
+    split_remote_gguf,
+)
 from vllm.utils.import_utils import LazyLoader
 from vllm.utils.torch_utils import common_broadcastable_dtype
 
@@ -440,7 +445,8 @@ class ModelConfig:
         self.model = maybe_model_redirect(self.model)
         # The tokenizer is consistent with the model by default.
         if self.tokenizer is None:
-            if check_gguf_file(self.model):
+            # Check if this is a GGUF model (either local file or remote GGUF)
+            if is_gguf(self.model):
                 raise ValueError(
                     "Using a tokenizer is mandatory when loading a GGUF model. "
                     "Please specify the tokenizer path or name using the "
@@ -832,7 +838,10 @@ class ModelConfig:
             self.tokenizer = object_storage_tokenizer.dir
 
     def _get_encoder_config(self):
-        return get_sentence_transformer_tokenizer_config(self.model, self.revision)
+        model = self.model
+        if is_remote_gguf(model):
+            model, _ = split_remote_gguf(model)
+        return get_sentence_transformer_tokenizer_config(model, self.revision)
 
     def _verify_tokenizer_mode(self) -> None:
         tokenizer_mode = cast(TokenizerMode, self.tokenizer_mode.lower())
diff --git a/vllm/engine/arg_utils.py b/vllm/engine/arg_utils.py
index 177915715140..6d5b3392baa2 100644
--- a/vllm/engine/arg_utils.py
+++ b/vllm/engine/arg_utils.py
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ from vllm.transformers_utils.config import (
     is_interleaved,
     maybe_override_with_speculators,
 )
-from vllm.transformers_utils.utils import check_gguf_file, is_cloud_storage
+from vllm.transformers_utils.utils import is_cloud_storage, is_gguf
 from vllm.utils.argparse_utils import FlexibleArgumentParser
 from vllm.utils.mem_constants import GiB_bytes
 from vllm.utils.network_utils import get_ip
@@ -1148,8 +1148,8 @@ class EngineArgs:
         return engine_args
 
     def create_model_config(self) -> ModelConfig:
-        # gguf file needs a specific model loader and doesn't use hf_repo
-        if check_gguf_file(self.model):
+        # gguf file needs a specific model loader
+        if is_gguf(self.model):
             self.quantization = self.load_format = "gguf"
 
         # NOTE(woosuk): In V1, we use separate processes for workers (unless
diff --git a/vllm/model_executor/model_loader/gguf_loader.py b/vllm/model_executor/model_loader/gguf_loader.py
index 2416836be03c..74052f72ceab 100644
--- a/vllm/model_executor/model_loader/gguf_loader.py
+++ b/vllm/model_executor/model_loader/gguf_loader.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ from vllm.model_executor.model_loader.utils import (
     process_weights_after_loading,
 )
 from vllm.model_executor.model_loader.weight_utils import (
+    download_gguf,
     get_gguf_extra_tensor_names,
     get_gguf_weight_type_map,
     gguf_quant_weights_iterator,
@@ -43,7 +44,8 @@ class GGUFModelLoader(BaseModelLoader):
                 f"load format {load_config.load_format}"
             )
 
-    def _prepare_weights(self, model_name_or_path: str):
+    def _prepare_weights(self, model_config: ModelConfig):
+        model_name_or_path = model_config.model
         if os.path.isfile(model_name_or_path):
             return model_name_or_path
         # for raw HTTPS link
@@ -55,12 +57,23 @@ class GGUFModelLoader(BaseModelLoader):
         if "/" in model_name_or_path and model_name_or_path.endswith(".gguf"):
             repo_id, filename = model_name_or_path.rsplit("/", 1)
             return hf_hub_download(repo_id=repo_id, filename=filename)
-        else:
-            raise ValueError(
-                f"Unrecognised GGUF reference: {model_name_or_path} "
-                "(expected local file, raw URL, or <repo_id>/<filename>.gguf)"
+        # repo_id:quant_type
+        elif "/" in model_name_or_path and ":" in model_name_or_path:
+            repo_id, quant_type = model_name_or_path.rsplit(":", 1)
+            return download_gguf(
+                repo_id,
+                quant_type,
+                cache_dir=self.load_config.download_dir,
+                revision=model_config.revision,
+                ignore_patterns=self.load_config.ignore_patterns,
             )
 
+        raise ValueError(
+            f"Unrecognised GGUF reference: {model_name_or_path} "
+            "(expected local file, raw URL, <repo_id>/<filename>.gguf, "
+            "or <repo_id>:<quant_type>)"
+        )
+
     def _get_gguf_weights_map(self, model_config: ModelConfig):
         """
         GGUF uses this naming convention for their tensors from HF checkpoint:
@@ -244,7 +257,7 @@ class GGUFModelLoader(BaseModelLoader):
         gguf_to_hf_name_map: dict[str, str],
     ) -> dict[str, str]:
         weight_type_map = get_gguf_weight_type_map(
-            model_config.model, gguf_to_hf_name_map
+            model_name_or_path, gguf_to_hf_name_map
         )
         is_multimodal = hasattr(model_config.hf_config, "vision_config")
         if is_multimodal:
@@ -290,10 +303,10 @@ class GGUFModelLoader(BaseModelLoader):
         yield from gguf_quant_weights_iterator(model_name_or_path, gguf_to_hf_name_map)
 
     def download_model(self, model_config: ModelConfig) -> None:
-        self._prepare_weights(model_config.model)
+        self._prepare_weights(model_config)
 
     def load_weights(self, model: nn.Module, model_config: ModelConfig) -> None:
-        local_model_path = self._prepare_weights(model_config.model)
+        local_model_path = self._prepare_weights(model_config)
         gguf_weights_map = self._get_gguf_weights_map(model_config)
         model.load_weights(
             self._get_weights_iterator(model_config, local_model_path, gguf_weights_map)
@@ -303,7 +316,7 @@ class GGUFModelLoader(BaseModelLoader):
         self, vllm_config: VllmConfig, model_config: ModelConfig
     ) -> nn.Module:
         device_config = vllm_config.device_config
-        local_model_path = self._prepare_weights(model_config.model)
+        local_model_path = self._prepare_weights(model_config)
         gguf_weights_map = self._get_gguf_weights_map(model_config)
         # we can only know if tie word embeddings after mapping weights
         if "lm_head.weight" in get_gguf_extra_tensor_names(
diff --git a/vllm/model_executor/model_loader/weight_utils.py b/vllm/model_executor/model_loader/weight_utils.py
index 4572ebe2ea11..0809bdfa9d4c 100644
--- a/vllm/model_executor/model_loader/weight_utils.py
+++ b/vllm/model_executor/model_loader/weight_utils.py
@@ -369,6 +369,52 @@ def get_sparse_attention_config(
     return config
 
 
+def download_gguf(
+    repo_id: str,
+    quant_type: str,
+    cache_dir: str | None = None,
+    revision: str | None = None,
+    ignore_patterns: str | list[str] | None = None,
+) -> str:
+    # Use patterns that snapshot_download can handle directly
+    # Patterns to match:
+    # - *-{quant_type}.gguf (root)
+    # - *-{quant_type}-*.gguf (root sharded)
+    # - */*-{quant_type}.gguf (subdir)
+    # - */*-{quant_type}-*.gguf (subdir sharded)
+    allow_patterns = [
+        f"*-{quant_type}.gguf",
+        f"*-{quant_type}-*.gguf",
+        f"*/*-{quant_type}.gguf",
+        f"*/*-{quant_type}-*.gguf",
+    ]
+
+    # Use download_weights_from_hf which handles caching and downloading
+    folder = download_weights_from_hf(
+        model_name_or_path=repo_id,
+        cache_dir=cache_dir,
+        allow_patterns=allow_patterns,
+        revision=revision,
+        ignore_patterns=ignore_patterns,
+    )
+
+    # Find the downloaded file(s) in the folder
+    local_files = []
+    for pattern in allow_patterns:
+        # Convert pattern to glob pattern for local filesystem
+        glob_pattern = os.path.join(folder, pattern)
+        local_files.extend(glob.glob(glob_pattern))
+
+    if not local_files:
+        raise ValueError(
+            f"Downloaded GGUF files not found in {folder} for quant_type {quant_type}"
+        )
+
+    # Sort to ensure consistent ordering (prefer non-sharded files)
+    local_files.sort(key=lambda x: (x.count("-"), x))
+    return local_files[0]
+
+
 def download_weights_from_hf(
     model_name_or_path: str,
     cache_dir: str | None,
diff --git a/vllm/transformers_utils/config.py b/vllm/transformers_utils/config.py
index c1880a3fba0e..a29d92f67f5d 100644
--- a/vllm/transformers_utils/config.py
+++ b/vllm/transformers_utils/config.py
@@ -42,7 +42,10 @@ from vllm.logger import init_logger
 from vllm.transformers_utils.config_parser_base import ConfigParserBase
 from vllm.transformers_utils.utils import (
     check_gguf_file,
+    is_gguf,
+    is_remote_gguf,
     parse_safetensors_file_metadata,
+    split_remote_gguf,
 )
 
 if envs.VLLM_USE_MODELSCOPE:
@@ -629,10 +632,12 @@ def maybe_override_with_speculators(
     Returns:
         Tuple of (resolved_model, resolved_tokenizer, speculative_config)
     """
-    is_gguf = check_gguf_file(model)
-    if is_gguf:
+    if check_gguf_file(model):
         kwargs["gguf_file"] = Path(model).name
         gguf_model_repo = Path(model).parent
+    elif is_remote_gguf(model):
+        repo_id, _ = split_remote_gguf(model)
+        gguf_model_repo = Path(repo_id)
     else:
         gguf_model_repo = None
     kwargs["local_files_only"] = huggingface_hub.constants.HF_HUB_OFFLINE
@@ -678,10 +683,18 @@ def get_config(
 ) -> PretrainedConfig:
     # Separate model folder from file path for GGUF models
 
-    is_gguf = check_gguf_file(model)
-    if is_gguf:
-        kwargs["gguf_file"] = Path(model).name
-        model = Path(model).parent
+    _is_gguf = is_gguf(model)
+    _is_remote_gguf = is_remote_gguf(model)
+    if _is_gguf:
+        if check_gguf_file(model):
+            # Local GGUF file
+            kwargs["gguf_file"] = Path(model).name
+            model = Path(model).parent
+        elif _is_remote_gguf:
+            # Remote GGUF - extract repo_id from repo_id:quant_type format
+            # The actual GGUF file will be downloaded later by GGUFModelLoader
+            # Keep model as repo_id:quant_type for download, but use repo_id for config
+            model, _ = split_remote_gguf(model)
 
     if config_format == "auto":
         try:
@@ -689,10 +702,25 @@ def get_config(
             # Transformers implementation.
             if file_or_path_exists(model, MISTRAL_CONFIG_NAME, revision=revision):
                 config_format = "mistral"
-            elif is_gguf or file_or_path_exists(
+            elif (_is_gguf and not _is_remote_gguf) or file_or_path_exists(
                 model, HF_CONFIG_NAME, revision=revision
             ):
                 config_format = "hf"
+            # Remote GGUF models must have config.json in repo,
+            # otherwise the config can't be parsed correctly.
+            # FIXME(Isotr0py): Support remote GGUF repos without config.json
+            elif _is_remote_gguf and not file_or_path_exists(
+                model, HF_CONFIG_NAME, revision=revision
+            ):
+                err_msg = (
+                    "Could not find config.json for remote GGUF model repo. "
+                    "To load remote GGUF model through `<repo_id>:<quant_type>`, "
+                    "ensure your model has config.json (HF format) file. "
+                    "Otherwise please specify --hf-config-path <original_repo> "
+                    "in engine args to fetch config from unquantized hf model."
+                )
+                logger.error(err_msg)
+                raise ValueError(err_msg)
             else:
                 raise ValueError(
                     "Could not detect config format for no config file found. "
@@ -713,9 +741,6 @@ def get_config(
                 "'config.json'.\n"
                 "   - For Mistral models: ensure the presence of a "
                 "'params.json'.\n"
-                "3. For GGUF: pass the local path of the GGUF checkpoint.\n"
-                "   Loading GGUF from a remote repo directly is not yet "
-                "supported.\n"
             ).format(model=model)
 
             raise ValueError(error_message) from e
@@ -729,7 +754,7 @@ def get_config(
         **kwargs,
     )
     # Special architecture mapping check for GGUF models
-    if is_gguf:
+    if _is_gguf:
         if config.model_type not in MODEL_FOR_CAUSAL_LM_MAPPING_NAMES:
             raise RuntimeError(f"Can't get gguf config for {config.model_type}.")
         model_type = MODEL_FOR_CAUSAL_LM_MAPPING_NAMES[config.model_type]
@@ -889,6 +914,8 @@ def get_pooling_config(model: str, revision: str | None = "main") -> dict | None
         A dictionary containing the pooling type and whether
             normalization is used, or None if no pooling configuration is found.
     """
+    if is_remote_gguf(model):
+        model, _ = split_remote_gguf(model)
 
     modules_file_name = "modules.json"
 
@@ -1108,6 +1135,8 @@ def get_hf_image_processor_config(
     # Separate model folder from file path for GGUF models
     if check_gguf_file(model):
         model = Path(model).parent
+    elif is_remote_gguf(model):
+        model, _ = split_remote_gguf(model)
     return get_image_processor_config(
         model, token=hf_token, revision=revision, **kwargs
     )
diff --git a/vllm/transformers_utils/processor.py b/vllm/transformers_utils/processor.py
index 8deacb5b0791..63cdf6337034 100644
--- a/vllm/transformers_utils/processor.py
+++ b/vllm/transformers_utils/processor.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ from transformers.processing_utils import ProcessorMixin
 from transformers.video_processing_utils import BaseVideoProcessor
 from typing_extensions import TypeVar
 
-from vllm.transformers_utils.utils import check_gguf_file, convert_model_repo_to_path
+from vllm.transformers_utils.utils import convert_model_repo_to_path, is_gguf
 from vllm.utils.func_utils import get_allowed_kwarg_only_overrides
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
@@ -236,8 +236,8 @@ def cached_processor_from_config(
     processor_cls: type[_P] | tuple[type[_P], ...] = ProcessorMixin,
     **kwargs: Any,
 ) -> _P:
-    if check_gguf_file(model_config.model):
-        assert not check_gguf_file(model_config.tokenizer), (
+    if is_gguf(model_config.model):
+        assert not is_gguf(model_config.tokenizer), (
             "For multimodal GGUF models, the original tokenizer "
             "should be used to correctly load processor."
         )
@@ -350,8 +350,8 @@ def cached_image_processor_from_config(
     model_config: "ModelConfig",
     **kwargs: Any,
 ):
-    if check_gguf_file(model_config.model):
-        assert not check_gguf_file(model_config.tokenizer), (
+    if is_gguf(model_config.model):
+        assert not is_gguf(model_config.tokenizer), (
             "For multimodal GGUF models, the original tokenizer "
             "should be used to correctly load image processor."
         )
diff --git a/vllm/transformers_utils/tokenizer.py b/vllm/transformers_utils/tokenizer.py
index 233076741503..f0e0ba8ef424 100644
--- a/vllm/transformers_utils/tokenizer.py
+++ b/vllm/transformers_utils/tokenizer.py
@@ -20,7 +20,12 @@ from vllm.transformers_utils.config import (
     list_filtered_repo_files,
 )
 from vllm.transformers_utils.tokenizers import MistralTokenizer
-from vllm.transformers_utils.utils import check_gguf_file
+from vllm.transformers_utils.utils import (
+    check_gguf_file,
+    is_gguf,
+    is_remote_gguf,
+    split_remote_gguf,
+)
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from vllm.config import ModelConfig
@@ -180,10 +185,12 @@ def get_tokenizer(
         kwargs["truncation_side"] = "left"
 
     # Separate model folder from file path for GGUF models
-    is_gguf = check_gguf_file(tokenizer_name)
-    if is_gguf:
-        kwargs["gguf_file"] = Path(tokenizer_name).name
-        tokenizer_name = Path(tokenizer_name).parent
+    if is_gguf(tokenizer_name):
+        if check_gguf_file(tokenizer_name):
+            kwargs["gguf_file"] = Path(tokenizer_name).name
+            tokenizer_name = Path(tokenizer_name).parent
+        elif is_remote_gguf(tokenizer_name):
+            tokenizer_name, _ = split_remote_gguf(tokenizer_name)
 
     # if `tokenizer_mode` == "auto", check if tokenizer can be loaded via Mistral format
     # first to use official Mistral tokenizer if possible.
diff --git a/vllm/transformers_utils/utils.py b/vllm/transformers_utils/utils.py
index 901a64d9d263..45a873c9f700 100644
--- a/vllm/transformers_utils/utils.py
+++ b/vllm/transformers_utils/utils.py
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ from os import PathLike
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any
 
+from gguf import GGMLQuantizationType
+
 import vllm.envs as envs
 from vllm.logger import init_logger
 
@@ -46,6 +48,57 @@ def check_gguf_file(model: str | PathLike) -> bool:
         return False
 
 
+@cache
+def is_remote_gguf(model: str | Path) -> bool:
+    """Check if the model is a remote GGUF model."""
+    model = str(model)
+    return (
+        (not is_cloud_storage(model))
+        and (not model.startswith(("http://", "https://")))
+        and ("/" in model and ":" in model)
+        and is_valid_gguf_quant_type(model.rsplit(":", 1)[1])
+    )
+
+
+def is_valid_gguf_quant_type(gguf_quant_type: str) -> bool:
+    """Check if the quant type is a valid GGUF quant type."""
+    return getattr(GGMLQuantizationType, gguf_quant_type, None) is not None
+
+
+def split_remote_gguf(model: str | Path) -> tuple[str, str]:
+    """Split the model into repo_id and quant type."""
+    model = str(model)
+    if is_remote_gguf(model):
+        parts = model.rsplit(":", 1)
+        return (parts[0], parts[1])
+    raise ValueError(
+        "Wrong GGUF model or invalid GGUF quant type: %s.\n"
+        "- It should be in repo_id:quant_type format.\n"
+        "- Valid GGMLQuantizationType values: %s",
+        model,
+        GGMLQuantizationType._member_names_,
+    )
+
+
+def is_gguf(model: str | Path) -> bool:
+    """Check if the model is a GGUF model.
+
+    Args:
+        model: Model name, path, or Path object to check.
+
+    Returns:
+        True if the model is a GGUF model, False otherwise.
+    """
+    model = str(model)
+
+    # Check if it's a local GGUF file
+    if check_gguf_file(model):
+        return True
+
+    # Check if it's a remote GGUF model (repo_id:quant_type format)
+    return is_remote_gguf(model)
+
+
 def modelscope_list_repo_files(
     repo_id: str,
     revision: str | None = None,