diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 2df15bfd..834ba8ef 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -11,7 +11,10 @@ require (
 	github.com/spf13/cobra v1.7.0
 )
 
-require github.com/rivo/uniseg v0.2.0 // indirect
+require (
+	github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure v1.5.0 // indirect
+	github.com/rivo/uniseg v0.2.0 // indirect
+)
 
 require (
 	dario.cat/mergo v1.0.0
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 0dd32085..855c75e5 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -73,6 +73,8 @@ github.com/mattn/go-runewidth v0.0.14 h1:+xnbZSEeDbOIg5/mE6JF0w6n9duR1l3/WmbinWV
 github.com/mattn/go-runewidth v0.0.14/go.mod h1:Jdepj2loyihRzMpdS35Xk/zdY8IAYHsh153qUoGf23w=
 github.com/mitchellh/colorstring v0.0.0-20190213212951-d06e56a500db h1:62I3jR2EmQ4l5rM/4FEfDWcRD+abF5XlKShorW5LRoQ=
 github.com/mitchellh/colorstring v0.0.0-20190213212951-d06e56a500db/go.mod h1:l0dey0ia/Uv7NcFFVbCLtqEBQbrT4OCwCSKTEv6enCw=
+github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure v1.5.0 h1:jeMsZIYE/09sWLaz43PL7Gy6RuMjD2eJVyuac5Z2hdY=
+github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure v1.5.0/go.mod h1:bFUtVrKA4DC2yAKiSyO/QUcy7e+RRV2QTWOzhPopBRo=
 github.com/modern-go/concurrent v0.0.0-20180228061459-e0a39a4cb421/go.mod h1:6dJC0mAP4ikYIbvyc7fijjWJddQyLn8Ig3JB5CqoB9Q=
 github.com/modern-go/concurrent v0.0.0-20180306012644-bacd9c7ef1dd h1:TRLaZ9cD/w8PVh93nsPXa1VrQ6jlwL5oN8l14QlcNfg=
 github.com/modern-go/concurrent v0.0.0-20180306012644-bacd9c7ef1dd/go.mod h1:6dJC0mAP4ikYIbvyc7fijjWJddQyLn8Ig3JB5CqoB9Q=
diff --git a/server/images.go b/server/images.go
index 17478fd2..f3fc6dfb 100644
--- a/server/images.go
+++ b/server/images.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/jmorganca/ollama/api"
 	"github.com/jmorganca/ollama/parser"
+	"github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure"
 )
 
 type RegistryOptions struct {
@@ -32,7 +33,7 @@ type Model struct {
 	ModelPath string
 	Template  string
 	System    string
-	Digest string
+	Digest    string
 	Options   api.Options
 }
 
@@ -135,7 +136,7 @@ func GetModel(name string) (*Model, error) {
 	}
 
 	model := &Model{
-		Name: mp.GetFullTagname(),
+		Name:   mp.GetFullTagname(),
 		Digest: manifest.Config.Digest,
 	}
 
@@ -176,12 +177,17 @@ func GetModel(name string) (*Model, error) {
 			}
 			defer params.Close()
 
-			var opts api.Options
+			// parse model options parameters into a map so that we can see which fields have been specified explicitly
+			// TODO: once there are no modelfiles in the wild that do not have default options populated this can be removed
+			var opts map[string]interface{}
 			if err = json.NewDecoder(params).Decode(&opts); err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}
 
-			model.Options = opts
+			// update the default options on the model with the options that have been specified
+			if err := mapstructure.Decode(opts, &model.Options); err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -494,7 +500,13 @@ func paramsToReader(params map[string][]string) (io.ReadSeeker, error) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	bts, err := json.Marshal(opts)
+	// convert opts to map so that zero fields are not omitted
+	out := make(map[string]interface{})
+	if err := mapstructure.Decode(opts, &out); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	bts, err := json.Marshal(out)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
diff --git a/server/routes.go b/server/routes.go
index a7d25357..e16de072 100644
--- a/server/routes.go
+++ b/server/routes.go
@@ -59,12 +59,7 @@ func GenerateHandler(c *gin.Context) {
 			loaded.llm = nil
 		}
 
-		opts := api.DefaultOptions()
-		if err := mergo.Merge(&opts, model.Options, mergo.WithOverride); err != nil {
-			c.JSON(http.StatusInternalServerError, gin.H{"error": err.Error()})
-			return
-		}
-
+		opts := model.Options
 		if err := mergo.Merge(&opts, req.Options, mergo.WithOverride); err != nil {
 			c.JSON(http.StatusInternalServerError, gin.H{"error": err.Error()})
 			return