diff --git a/convert-hf-to-gguf.py b/convert-hf-to-gguf.py
index e1ac09e02..b51d68307 100755
--- a/convert-hf-to-gguf.py
+++ b/convert-hf-to-gguf.py
@@ -43,17 +43,18 @@ AnyModel = TypeVar("AnyModel", bound="type[Model]")
 class Model(ABC):
     _model_classes: dict[str, type[Model]] = {}
 
-    def __init__(self, dir_model: Path, ftype: int, fname_out: Path, is_big_endian: bool):
+    def __init__(self, dir_model: Path, ftype: int, fname_out: Path, is_big_endian: bool, use_temp_file: bool):
         self.dir_model = dir_model
         self.ftype = ftype
         self.fname_out = fname_out
         self.is_big_endian = is_big_endian
         self.endianess = gguf.GGUFEndian.BIG if is_big_endian else gguf.GGUFEndian.LITTLE
+        self.use_temp_file = use_temp_file
         self.is_safetensors = self._is_model_safetensors()
         self.num_parts = Model.count_model_parts(self.dir_model, ".safetensors" if self.is_safetensors else ".bin")
         self.part_names = self._get_part_names()
         self.hparams = Model.load_hparams(self.dir_model)
-        self.gguf_writer = gguf.GGUFWriter(fname_out, gguf.MODEL_ARCH_NAMES[self.model_arch], endianess=self.endianess, use_temp_file=False)
+        self.gguf_writer = gguf.GGUFWriter(fname_out, gguf.MODEL_ARCH_NAMES[self.model_arch], endianess=self.endianess, use_temp_file=self.use_temp_file)
         self.block_count = self.find_hparam(["n_layers", "num_hidden_layers", "n_layer"])
 
     @property
@@ -2459,6 +2460,7 @@ def parse_args() -> argparse.Namespace:
         "model", type=Path,
         help="directory containing model file",
     )
+    parser.add_argument("--use-temp-file", action="store_true", help="use the tempfile library while processing (helpful when running out of memory, process killed)")
 
     return parser.parse_args()
 
@@ -2502,7 +2504,7 @@ def main() -> None:
 
     with torch.inference_mode():
         model_class = Model.from_model_architecture(hparams["architectures"][0])
-        model_instance = model_class(dir_model, ftype_map[args.outtype], fname_out, args.bigendian)
+        model_instance = model_class(dir_model, ftype_map[args.outtype], fname_out, args.bigendian, args.use_temp_file)
 
         print("Set model parameters")
         model_instance.set_gguf_parameters()