diff --git a/src/llama-quant.cpp b/src/llama-quant.cpp
index 6e7f1ba3ba..eb94c8a212 100644
--- a/src/llama-quant.cpp
+++ b/src/llama-quant.cpp
@@ -690,7 +690,23 @@ static ggml_type llama_tensor_get_type(quantize_state_impl & qs, const llama_mod
         return tensor->type;
     }
     if (params->token_embedding_type < GGML_TYPE_COUNT && tm.category == tensor_category::TOKEN_EMBD) {
-        return params->token_embedding_type;
+        // per_layer_token_embd shares this category with token_embd.weight and follows
+        // --token-embedding-type by default. But it is a separate table and far from a
+        // rounding error: qwen4exp's is ~46% of a 4-bit file. Let an explicit --tensor-type
+        // name it; nothing changes unless such a pattern is passed.
+        bool named = false;
+        if (std::strcmp(tensor->name, "per_layer_token_embd.weight") == 0) {
+            const std::string tensor_name(tensor->name);
+            for (const auto & [pattern, qtype] : qs.tensor_type_patterns) {
+                if (std::regex_search(tensor_name, pattern)) {
+                    named = true;
+                    break;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        if (!named) {
+            return params->token_embedding_type;
+        }
     }
     if (params->output_tensor_type < GGML_TYPE_COUNT && tm.category == tensor_category::OUTPUT) {
         return params->output_tensor_type;