diff --git a/dlclibrary/dlcmodelzoo/modelzoo_download.py b/dlclibrary/dlcmodelzoo/modelzoo_download.py
index 9da4c6b..12dff74 100644
--- a/dlclibrary/dlcmodelzoo/modelzoo_download.py
+++ b/dlclibrary/dlcmodelzoo/modelzoo_download.py
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ def get_available_datasets() -> list[str]:
 
 
 def get_available_detectors(dataset: str) -> list[str]:
-    """ Only for PyTorch models.
+    """Only for PyTorch models.
 
     Returns:
         The detectors available for the dataset.
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ def get_available_detectors(dataset: str) -> list[str]:
 
 
 def get_available_models(dataset: str) -> list[str]:
-    """ Only for PyTorch models.
+    """Only for PyTorch models.
 
     Returns:
         The pose models available for the dataset.
@@ -139,19 +139,39 @@ def download_huggingface_model(
     model_name: str,
     target_dir: str = ".",
     remove_hf_folder: bool = True,
-    rename_mapping: dict | None = None,
+    rename_mapping: str | dict | None = None,
 ):
     """
     Downloads a DeepLabCut Model Zoo Project from Hugging Face.
 
     Args:
-        model_name (str): Name of the ModelZoo model.
+        model_name (str):
+            Name of the ModelZoo model.
             For visualizations, see http://www.mackenziemathislab.org/dlc-modelzoo.
-        target_dir (str): Directory where the model weights and pose_cfg.yaml file will be stored.
-        remove_hf_folder (bool, optional): Whether to remove the directory structure provided by HuggingFace
-            after downloading and decompressing the data into DeepLabCut format. Defaults to True.
-        rename_mapping (dict, optional): A dictionary to rename the downloaded file.
-            If None, the original filename is used. Defaults to None.
+        target_dir (str, optional):
+            Target directory where the model weights will be stored.
+            Defaults to the current directory.
+        remove_hf_folder (bool, optional):
+            Whether to remove the directory structure created by HuggingFace
+            after downloading and decompressing the data into DeepLabCut format.
+            Defaults to True.
+        rename_mapping (dict | str | None, optional):
+            - If a dictionary, it should map the original Hugging Face filenames
+              to new filenames (e.g. {"snapshot-12345.tar.gz": "mymodel.tar.gz"}).
+            - If a string, it is interpreted as the new name for the downloaded file
+            - If None, the original filename is used.
+            Defaults to None.
+
+    Examples:
+        >>> # Download without renaming, keep original filename
+        download_huggingface_model("superanimal_bird_resnet_50", remove_hf_folder=False)
+
+        >>> # Download and rename by specifying the new name directly
+        download_huggingface_model(
+            model_name="superanimal_humanbody_rtmpose_x",
+            target_dir="/path/to/,y/checkpoints",
+            rename_mapping="superanimal_humanbody_rtmpose_x.pt"
+        )
     """
     net_urls = _load_model_names()
     if model_name not in net_urls:
@@ -180,6 +200,10 @@ def download_huggingface_model(
         path_ = os.path.join(target_dir, hf_folder, "snapshots")
         commit = os.listdir(path_)[0]
         file_name = os.path.join(path_, commit, targzfn)
+
+        if isinstance(rename_mapping, str):
+            rename_mapping = {targzfn: rename_mapping}
+
         _handle_downloaded_file(file_name, target_dir, rename_mapping)
 
     if remove_hf_folder: