Best video models for a 16 GB Mac
Which open-weight video models run on a 16 GB Mac. Verdicts come from exact Hugging Face file sizes, model card and app maker statements, and published runs.
- Run
- 2
- Unknown
- 2
- Does not fit
- 2
2 of 6 listed video models run on a 16 GB Mac: LTX-2.3 and Wan2.1. None of them has an independent quality score yet. No figure covers Mochi 1 preview and Wan2.2 TI2V 5B at this size yet. MiniMax H3 and Wan2.2 A14B need more memory.
License check before commercial use: LTX-2.3.
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Which video models run on a 16 GB Mac?
6 modelsRuns means a published run on 16 GB or less, or a model card or app maker figure at or below it. Does not fit means the weights the app keeps resident in the smallest complete build are larger than 16 GB. A Mac has one memory pool, so the text encoder cannot move out to a separate system RAM; an app that loads the text encoder and the main model one after the other counts only its largest stage. unknown means no source covers this size yet; it is not a failure.
| Model | Verdict | Why | Quality | App |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LTX-2.3LTX-2 Community License Agreement | Runs · Stated | Stated by the source: 16 GB of unified memory runs it (ltx-2-mlx int4 pack).ltx-2-mlx README | No independent score yet | Lightricks/LTX-2 ltx-pipelines, appautomaton/ltx-video-mlx, ComfyUI |
| Wan2.1Apache License 2.0 | Runs · Stated | Stated by the source: 16 GB of unified memory runs it (mlx-video 4-bit conversion).mlx-video Wan README | No independent score yet | ml-explore/mlx-examples Wan2.1, ComfyUI, FastVideo MLX (FastMetal) |
| Mochi 1 previewApache License 2.0 | unknown | The smallest complete build, calcuis GGUF Q3_K_M with Q4_0 T5 and FP8 VAE, is a 7.7 GB download, but no stated figure or published run covers 16 GB of unified memory yet. | #48 of 48 in text to video5,893 votes | Diffusers, ComfyUI |
| Wan2.2 TI2V 5BApache License 2.0 | unknown | The smallest complete build, QuantStack GGUF Q8_0, is a 13.5 GB download, but no stated figure or published run covers 16 GB of unified memory yet. | No independent score yet | Blaizzy/mlx-video, FastVideo MLX (FastMetal), ComfyUI |
| MiniMax H3MiniMax H3 Community License Agreement | Does not fit est. | The smallest complete build, Unsloth GGUF Q4_K denoiser with the Q4_K_M Qwen3-VL encoder, keeps 35.5 GB of weights resident, more than 16 GB of unified memory. | #8 of 48 in text to video11,417 votes | Argus-AiTeam/minimax-h3-mac (MLX streaming), antirez/h3.c (Metal), ddalcu/mlx-serve, stable-diffusion.cpp, ComfyUI |
| Wan2.2 A14BApache License 2.0 | Does not fit est. | The smallest complete build, QuantStack GGUF Q4_K_M (high and low noise), keeps 26.3 GB of weights resident, more than 16 GB of unified memory. | #42 of 48 in text to video10,458 votes | PocketAI Wan2.2 MLX (pocketai-wan-video), ComfyUI |
Quality: blind human votes from Arena (arena.ai), CC BY 4.0, snapshot 2026-09-22. Scores are for the Arena checkpoint, not your local quantized build.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best video model for a 16 GB Mac?
LTX-2.3 and Wan2.1 run on a 16 GB Mac. None of them has an independent quality score yet.
Which video models run on a 16 GB Mac?
LTX-2.3 (16 GB stated by ltx-2-mlx README) and Wan2.1 (16 GB stated by mlx-video Wan README).
Which video models need more than 16 GB on a Mac?
MiniMax H3 (smallest complete build Unsloth GGUF Q4_K denoiser with the Q4_K_M Qwen3-VL encoder, 35.5 GB) and Wan2.2 A14B (smallest complete build QuantStack GGUF Q4_K_M (high and low noise), 26.3 GB). Their resident weights alone are larger than the memory.