HTTP: The Definitive Guide

Appendix D. MIME Types

MIME media types (MIME types, for short) are standardized names that describe the contents of a message entity body (e.g., text/html, image/jpeg). This appendix explains how MIME types work, how to register new ones, and where to go for more information.

In addition, this appendix contains 10 convenient tables, detailing hundreds of MIME types, gathered from many sources around the globe. This may be the most detailed tabular listing of MIME types ever compiled. We hope these tables are useful to you.

In this appendix, we will:

• Outline the primary reference material, in Section D.1.

• Explain the structure of MIME types, in Section D.2.

• Show you how to register MIME types, in Section D.3.

• Make it easier for you to look up MIME types.

The following MIME type tables are included in this appendix:

• application/*—Table D-3

• audio/*—Table D-4

• chemical/*—Table D-5

• image/*—Table D-6

• message/*—Table D-7

• model/*—Table D-8

• multipart/*—Table D-9

• text/*—Table D-10

• video/*—Table D-11

• Other—Table D-12