diff --git a/src/sagemaker_huggingface_inference_toolkit/transformers_utils.py b/src/sagemaker_huggingface_inference_toolkit/transformers_utils.py
index ac36de6..b3011a8 100644
--- a/src/sagemaker_huggingface_inference_toolkit/transformers_utils.py
+++ b/src/sagemaker_huggingface_inference_toolkit/transformers_utils.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 import json
 import logging
 import os
+import re
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Optional
 
@@ -43,11 +44,21 @@ def is_aws_neuron_available():
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 PYTORCH_WEIGHTS_NAME = "pytorch_model.bin"
+SAFETENSORS_WEIGHTS_NAME = "model.safetensors"
 TF2_WEIGHTS_NAME = "tf_model.h5"
-FRAMEWORK_MAPPING = {"pytorch": PYTORCH_WEIGHTS_NAME, "tensorflow": TF2_WEIGHTS_NAME}
+FRAMEWORK_MAPPING = {
+    "pytorch": PYTORCH_WEIGHTS_NAME,
+    "tensorflow": TF2_WEIGHTS_NAME,
+}
+PYTORCH_WEIGHTS_NAME_PATTERN = r"pytorch_model-\d+-\of-\d+.bin"
+SAFETENSORS_WEIGHTS_NAME_PATTERN = r"model-\d+-\of-\d+\.safetensors"
+TF2_WEIGHTS_NAME_PATTERN = r"tf_model-\d+-\of-\d+.h5"
 
 FILE_LIST_NAMES = [
     "config.json",
+    "model.safetensors.index.json",
+    "pytorch_model.bin.index.json",
+    "tf_model.h5.index.json",
     "special_tokens_map.json",
     "tokenizer_config.json",
     "tokenizer.json",
@@ -192,11 +203,40 @@ def _load_model_from_hub(
     os.makedirs(storage_folder, exist_ok=True)
 
     # filters files to download
-    download_file_list = [
-        file.rfilename
-        for file in model_info.siblings
-        if file.rfilename in FILE_LIST_NAMES + [FRAMEWORK_MAPPING[framework]]
-    ]
+    download_file_list = []
+
+    # prioritize safe tensors weights if they exist
+    repo_using_safetensors = False
+    for file in model_info.siblings:
+        if file.rfilename == SAFETENSORS_WEIGHTS_NAME or re.match(SAFETENSORS_WEIGHTS_NAME_PATTERN, file.rfilename):
+            repo_using_safetensors = True
+            download_file_list = [
+                file.rfilename
+                for file in model_info.siblings
+                if file.rfilename == SAFETENSORS_WEIGHTS_NAME
+                or file.rfilename in FILE_LIST_NAMES
+                or re.match(SAFETENSORS_WEIGHTS_NAME_PATTERN, file.rfilename)
+            ]
+            break
+
+    # if repo doesn't use safetensors, use framework specific weights
+    if not repo_using_safetensors:
+        if (framework) == "pytorch":
+            download_file_list = [
+                file.rfilename
+                for file in model_info.siblings
+                if file.rfilename == PYTORCH_WEIGHTS_NAME
+                or file.rfilename in FILE_LIST_NAMES
+                or re.match(PYTORCH_WEIGHTS_NAME_PATTERN, file.rfilename)
+            ]
+        elif (framework) == "tensorflow":
+            download_file_list = [
+                file.rfilename
+                for file in model_info.siblings
+                if file.rfilename == TF2_WEIGHTS_NAME
+                or file.rfilename in FILE_LIST_NAMES
+                or re.match(TF2_WEIGHTS_NAME_PATTERN, file.rfilename)
+            ]
 
     # download files to storage_folder and removes cache
     for file in download_file_list: