sentence-transformers 6.1.0

v6.1.0 - Documentation and input handling improvements

on Python PyPI

This is a small release with refreshed inference benchmarks, clearer documentation, and a few improvements to multimodal input handling.

Install this version with

# Training + Inference
pip install sentence-transformers[train]==6.1.0

# Inference only, use one of:
pip install sentence-transformers==6.1.0
pip install sentence-transformers[onnx-gpu]==6.1.0
pip install sentence-transformers[onnx]==6.1.0
pip install sentence-transformers[openvino]==6.1.0

# Multimodal dependencies (optional):
pip install sentence-transformers[image]==6.1.0
pip install sentence-transformers[audio]==6.1.0
pip install sentence-transformers[video]==6.1.0

# Or combine as needed:
pip install sentence-transformers[train,onnx,image]==6.1.0

Changes

• Refreshed the inference benchmarks and efficiency guide, clarified benchmark labels, and documented ONNX CPU thread tuning (#3977, #4007, #3987).
• Added a shared input formats guide and SPARSEUP to the pretrained sparse model tables (#4036, #4038).
• Improved multimodal input handling and chat-template argument routing (#4037, #4048).
• Corrected loss formulas and argument descriptions in docstrings, clarified custom-module import requirements, and fixed links, typos, and optional type annotations.

For existing multimodal dict inputs, message content now follows each input's key order, which can change embeddings or scores. Video-frame URLs without recognizable image extensions need an explicit frame wrapper to remain one video. See #4037 for details.

All Changes

• [docs] Document that optional imports in a custom module become load-time requirements by @abtonmoy in #3922
• [docs] Name the metric on the quality axis of the backend benchmark figures by @tomaarsen in #3977
• docs: fix Constrastive/heaqp typos and subject-verb agreement by @simpleqt in #3983
• docs: drop stale margin/squared Args from triplet loss docstrings by @simpleqt in #3981
• docs: fix cross-encoder link and 'show case' wording in examples READMEs by @simpleqt in #3982
• Correct the inverted CoSENT loss formula in two docstrings by @vineethsaivs in #3984
• Fix implicit Optional annotations by @VenishPaneliya in #3990
• [docs] Clarify sparse COO inputs for semantic_search by @tomaarsen in #4001
• [docs] Refresh inference benchmarks and promote efficiency guides by @tomaarsen in #4007
• [docs] Describe the MarginMSE target as the signed margin by @MaxFreedomPollard in #4009
• Document ONNX CPU thread tuning and benchmark settings by @ErnisBadmae in #3987
• docs: Document shared input formats across model archetypes by @tomaarsen in #4036
• [docs] Add SPARSEUP to pretrained sparse models by @tomaarsen in #4038
• Support multiple items per modality in one input by @tomaarsen in #4037
• Fix load_audio_from_video routing in chat templates by @tomaarsen in #4048

Full Changelog: v6.0.1...v6.1.0