RFC 1521 - MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) says in Appendix E "In order to ensure that the set of such values is developed in an orderly, well-specified, and public manner, MIME defines a registration process which uses the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) as a central registry for such values." See Also: Media Types at IANA Helpers and Plug-In's, RFC 1341 Mechanisms for Specifying and Describing the Format of Internet Message Bodies List at NTT/Verio List at Duke mediaTypes at dsi
type=application, text, audio, image, video, message, model, multipart
Other types: magnus-internal, wwwserver, drawing, model,
enc=x-gzip, x-compress, x-uuencode
type=magnus-internal - By convention, all values of type that require the server to do something other than just send the requested resource to the client start with magnus-internal/.
Mime types for common applications (e.g. MS Office) have changed
several times. Only MS Word was registered (by someone other than
Microsoft) with IANA, so the others are unofficial. At the end of
1995 a convention of preceding unofficial names with x- was adopted.
So Mime types like application/msexcel which was in common use at
the time changed to application/x-msexcel. A new convention was
adopted in 1997.
Note: application/msword does not change because msword is an officially
registered mime type.
Changes at the end of 1997
OLD NEW
x-msexcel vnd.ms-excel
x-mspowerpoint vnd.ms-powerpoint
x-msproject vnd.ms-project
x-framemaker vnd.framemaker
x-mif vnd.mif
x-mshelp winhlp
application/msword .doc,.dot MS Word (Windows format) (1)
application/vnd.framemaker .frm,.mif,.fm3,.fm4,.mk FrameMaker (2)
application/vnd.ms-excel .xls,.xlc MS Excel (spreadsheet, chart)
application/sylk .slk (.SYLK) Symbolic Link
WingZ/Excel/Lotus (old MultiPlan format)
application/vnd.ms-powerpoint .ppt MS Powerpoint
application/x-xsb .xsb,.sb Superbook
text/x-sgml .sgm (.SGML) Standard Generalized Markup Lang.
application/SGML-Open-Catalog
(Future versions of Superbook should read SGML)
application/x-notes .ntf,nsf Lotus Notes
application/vnd.lotus-organizer .or2 Lotus Organizer
application/pdf .pdf Portable Document Format (Adobe Acrobat)
application/vnd.ms-project .mpt,.mpp MS Project
application/x-coreldrw .cdr Corel Draw
application/winhlp .hlp Windows Help
image/tiff .tif * * *
(1) We recommend storing Word Docs as Word for Windows format (.doc)
rather than Mac format (.mcw) for better portability of graphics.
(2) .fm which was used from FrameMaker 3 conflicted with .fm which
was already used for FileMaker Pro. Don Pratt proposed using
.fm3 for FrameMaker 3
See Notes on adding viewers
Defaults: (1) Air NCSA Microsoft
Official Netscape Mosaic Server WWW Server
image/gif .gif * * * * *
image/jpeg .jpg,.jpeg,.jpe * * * * *
audio/basic .au,.snd * * * * *
audio/x-wav .wav * * *
audio/wav .wave,.wav *
video/quicktime .qt,.mov * * * *
video/mpeg .mpeg,.mpg * * * * *
video/x-msvideo .avi * * *
video/msvideo .avi *
video/avi .avi *
text/richtext .rtx * *(W) *
text/x-sgml .sgm *
appl./postscript .ps,.eps,.ai * * * * *
application/rtf .rtf * * * *
application/x-rtf .rtf *
application/msword .doc * * *
application/mac-binhex40 .hqx * * * *
application/macbinhex40 .hqx * * * *
application/x-macbinary .bin *
application/octet-stream .bin * *
application/octet-stream .exe * *
application/x-msdownload .exe *
application/x-stuffit .sit *
application/x-tar .tar * *
application/x-gtar .gtar *
application/x-troff-man .man *(W) *
Defaults: (1) Air NCSA Microsoft
Official Netscape Mosaic Server WWW Server
appl./x-compressed .zip,z,gz *(M)
appl./zip .zip * * *
appl./x-compress .Z *(W) *
appl./x-zip-compressed .zip *(W) x
appl./x-gzip .gz *(W) x
appl./x-gzip-compressed .gz *(W) x
image/pict .pict *
image/targa .targa,.tga *
image/tiff .tiff,.tif * * * *
image/x-xbitmap .xbm * *
image/x-win-bmp .bmp *
image/x-MS-bmp .bmp *
image/x-mspaint .bmp *
image/x-msmetafile .wmf *
image/x-wmf .wmf *
image/ief .ief *(W)
image/x-rgb .rgb *(W)
image/x-portable-anymap .pnm *(W)
image/x-portable-bitmap .pbm *(W)
image/x-portable-graymap .pgm *(W)
image/x-portable-pixmap .ppm *(W)
image/x-xwindowdump .xwd *(W)
image/x-xpixmap .xpm *(W)
image/x-xbitmap .xbm *(W)
image/x-cmu-raster .ras *(W)
audio/aiff .aiff,.aif
audio/x-aiff .aiff,.aif * *
audio/x-midi .mid *
appl/x-ns-proxy-autoconfig .pac *(W)
appl/x-javascript .js,.ls,.mocha *(W)
appl/x-tcl .tcl *(W)
appl/x-sh .sh *(W)
appl/x-csh .csh *(W)
appl/x-cpio .cpio *(W)
appl/x-shar .shar *(W)
appl/fractals .fif *(W)
appl/x-texinfo .texi *(W)
appl/x-dvi .dvi *(W)
appl/x-latex .latex *(W)
appl/x-tex .tex *(W)
-----
New with Explorer 4
image/x-png png Portable Network Graphics
image/pjpeg
image/x-jg
image/x-emf
appplication/base64
application/pdf pdf Portable Document Format (Adobe)
application/java
application/x-msdownload exe *
x - In srm.conf on server
(W/M)- Windows/Mac version of Netscape only
(1) The official list of registered MIME (Media) types is at
IANA
Non-standard MIME types should begin with an x. e.g. x-tar
See below for other official/standard MIME types
Other common UNIX types in conf/srm.conf and conf/mime.types on httpd servers.
application/x-dvi dvi TeX DVI (Device Independent)
See Also:
File Name Extension in Default httpd config. in ver. 2.2 2/94
and in Tony Sanders (sanders@bsdi.com) list at
standard MIME types are marked `*'
non-standard types with security concerns are marked `='
Content-Type: Description
*application/activemessage
*application/andrew-inset Andrew-inset
*application/applefile
*application/atomicmail Atomicmail
*application/dca-rft IBM Doc Content Arch
*application/dec-dx Digital Doc Transfer
*application/mac-binhex40
*application/macwriteii
*application/msword
*application/news-message-id RFC 1036
*application/news-transmission RFC 1036
*application/octet-stream bin Uninterpreted Binary Data
*application/oda oda
*application/pdf pdf Portable Document Format (Adobe)
*application/postscript ai eps ps PostScript
*application/remote-printing RFC 1486
*application/rtf rtf RTF
*application/slate Slate
*application/wita Wang Info Transfer
*application/wordperfect5.1
=application/x-csh csh CSH Script (major danger)
=application/x-dvi dvi TeX DVI (Device Independent)
application/x-hdf hdf NCSA HDF data file
=application/x-latex latex LaTeX Source
application/x-netcdf nc cdf Unidata netCDF data file
=application/x-sh sh SH Script (major danger)
=application/x-tcl tcl TCL Script (major danger)
=application/x-tex tex TeX Source
=application/x-texinfo texinfo texi Texinfo
=application/x-troff t tr roff Troff
=application/x-troff-man man Troff w/MAN Macros
=application/x-troff-me me Troff w/ME Macros
=application/x-troff-ms ms Troff w/MS Macros
application/x-wais-source src WAIS Source
*application/zip zip PKZIP
=application/x-bcpio bcpio Old Binary CPIO
=application/x-cpio cpio IEEE Std1003.2 (``POSIX'') CPIO
=application/x-gtar gtar Gnu Tar
=application/x-shar shar Sh Shar
=application/x-sv4cpio sv4cpio SVR4 CPIO
=application/x-sv4crc sv4crc SVR4 CPIO w/CRC
=application/x-tar tar 4.3BSD Tar
=application/x-ustar ustar IEEE Std1003.2 (``POSIX'') Tar
application/x-mif Maker Interchange Format
*audio/basic au snd 8-bit u-law [PCM] / 8000 Hz
audio/x-aiff aif aiff aifc
audio/x-wav wav MS Windows+ WAVE format
audio/x-pn-realaudio ram Real Audio Player
audio/x-mpeg mp2 MPEG Audio
*image/gif gif Graphics Interchange Format
*image/ief ief Image Exchange Format
*image/jpeg jpeg jpg jpe
*image/tiff tiff tif Tagged Image File Format
image/x-cmu-raster ras
image/x-portable-anymap pnm PBM Anymap Format
image/x-portable-bitmap pbm PBM Bitmap Format
image/x-portable-graymap pgm PBM Graymap Format
image/x-portable-pixmap ppm PBM Pixmap Format
image/x-portable-?? png Portable Network Graphics
image/x-png png Portable Network Graphics
image/x-rgb rgb
image/x-xbitmap xbm X Bitmaps
image/x-xpixmap xpm X Pixmap format
image/x-xwindowdump xwd X Window Dump (xwd)
image/g3fax g3f Group III FAX
image/cgm cgm Computer Graphics Metafile
- Harvard Graphics (object)
*message/external-body
*message/news
*message/partial
*message/rfc822
*multipart/alternative
*multipart/appledouble
*multipart/digest
*multipart/mixed
*multipart/parallel
*multipart/header-set
*multipart/form-data
*multipart/report
text/html html htm HTML
*text/plain txt Plain Text
text/plain bas BASIC program
text/plain c C program
*text/richtext rtx MIME Richtext format
text/enriched a refinement of "text/richtext"
*text/tab-separated-values tsv Tab Separated Values
text/x-setext etx Structure Enchanced Text
*video/mpeg mpeg mpg mpe Motion Picture Experts Group
*video/quicktime qt mov QuickTime
video/x-msvideo avi Microsoft Video for Windows
video/x-sgi-movie movie SGI "movieplayer" movie
video/vdo vdo VDOLive
www/* Reserved Internal WWW type
application/x-msaccess mdb
application/x-mscardfile crd
application/x-msclip clp
application/x-msmediaview m13
application/x-msmediaview m14
application/x-msmoney mny
application/x-mspif pif Program Information File (Windows)
application/x-mspowerpoint ppt
application/x-mspublisher pub
application/x-msschedplus cal
application/x-msterminal trm
application/x-msworks wks
application/x-mswrite wri
application/mathmetica ma Mathmetica Notebook
application/envoy evy Novell Formatted Doc. Distr. format
application/vis5d v5d 5-D data set visualization
+model/iges igs IGES CAD Object
+model/mesh msh 2 and 2-D visualization
x-world/x-vrml wrl VRML Virtual Reality Modeling Lang.
+ model is a new mime type still under review as of 2/1/96