diff --git a/convert_hf_to_gguf.py b/convert_hf_to_gguf.py
index 2c4558e27..f99203f78 100755
--- a/convert_hf_to_gguf.py
+++ b/convert_hf_to_gguf.py
@@ -2254,9 +2254,11 @@ class Phi3MiniModel(Model):
         self.gguf_writer.add_rope_dimension_count(rope_dims)
         self.gguf_writer.add_rope_freq_base(self.find_hparam(["rope_theta"]))
         self.gguf_writer.add_file_type(self.ftype)
-        # handle null value of sliding_window (Phi-4 model)
-        if (sliding_window := self.hparams.get("sliding_window")) is not None:
-            self.gguf_writer.add_sliding_window(sliding_window)
+        sliding_window = self.hparams.get("sliding_window")
+        # use zero value of sliding_window to distinguish Phi-4 from other PHI3 models
+        if sliding_window is None:
+            sliding_window = 0
+        self.gguf_writer.add_sliding_window(sliding_window)
 
     def generate_extra_tensors(self) -> Iterable[tuple[str, Tensor]]:
         n_embd = self.find_hparam(["hidden_size", "n_embd"])