Common MIME types
IANA is the official registry of MIME media types and maintains a list of all the official MIME types.
What Are MIME Types?
MIME types (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) are standardized identifiers used to indicate the nature and format of a file. They are used by browsers, servers, APIs, and applications to properly handle and interpret files during uploads, downloads, or API interactions.
For example:
- A
.jpgimage has the MIME type:image/jpeg - A
.pdfdocument has the MIME type:application/pdf
Why Are MIME Types Important?
MIME types play a critical role in:
- Web development - Ensuring correct content rendering
- APIs & file uploads - Validating and handling file formats
- Security - Preventing file spoofing and content-type mismatches
- Content delivery - Telling browsers how to display or download a file
Common MIME Types
| Kind of Document | MIME Type | Extension |
|---|---|---|
| AAC audio | audio/aac | .aac |
| AbiWord document | application/x-abiword | .abw |
| Animated Portable Network Graphics (APNG) image | image/apng | .apng |
| Archive document (multiple files embedded) | application/x-freearc | .arc |
| AVIF image | image/avif | .avif |
| AVI: Audio Video Interleave | video/x-msvideo | .avi |
| Amazon Kindle eBook format | application/vnd.amazon.ebook | .azw |
| Any kind of binary data | application/octet-stream | .bin |
| Windows OS/2 Bitmap Graphics | image/bmp | .bmp |
| BZip archive | application/x-bzip | .bz |
| BZip2 archive | application/x-bzip2 | .bz2 |
| CD audio | application/x-cdf | .cda |
| C-Shell script | application/x-csh | .csh |
| Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) | text/css | .css |
| Comma-separated values (CSV) | text/csv | .csv |
| Microsoft Word | application/msword | .doc |
| Microsoft Word (OpenXML) | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document | .docx |
| MS Embedded OpenType fonts | application/vnd.ms-fontobject | .eot |
| Electronic publication (EPUB) | application/epub+zip | .epub |
| GZip Compressed Archive | application/gzip. Note, Windows and macOS upload .gz files with the non-standard MIME type application/x-gzip. | .gz |
| Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) | image/gif | .gif |
| HyperText Markup Language (HTML) | text/html | .htm, .html |
| Icon format | image/vnd.microsoft.icon | .ico |
| iCalendar format | text/calendar | .ics |
| Java Archive (JAR) | application/java-archive | .jar |
| JPEG images | image/jpeg | .jpeg, .jpg |
| JavaScript | text/javascript (Specifications: HTML and RFC 9239) | .js |
| JSON format | application/json | .json |
| JSON-LD format | application/ld+json | .jsonld |
| Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) | audio/midi, audio/x-midi | .mid, .midi |
| JavaScript module | text/javascript | .mjs |
| MP3 audio | audio/mpeg | .mp3 |
| MP4 video | video/mp4 | .mp4 |
| MPEG Video | video/mpeg | .mpeg |
| Apple Installer Package | application/vnd.apple.installer+xml | .mpkg |
| OpenDocument presentation document | application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.presentation | .odp |
| OpenDocument spreadsheet document | application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.spreadsheet | .ods |
| OpenDocument text document | application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text | .odt |
| Ogg audio | audio/ogg | .oga |
| Ogg video | video/ogg | .ogv |
| Ogg | application/ogg | .ogx |
| Opus audio in Ogg container | audio/ogg | .opus |
| OpenType font | font/otf | .otf |
| Portable Network Graphics | image/png | .png |
| Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) | application/pdf | |
| Hypertext Preprocessor (Personal Home Page) | application/x-httpd-php | .php |
| Microsoft PowerPoint | application/vnd.ms-powerpoint | .ppt |
| Microsoft PowerPoint (OpenXML) | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation | .pptx |
| RAR archive | application/vnd.rar | .rar |
| Rich Text Format (RTF) | application/rtf | .rtf |
| Bourne shell script | application/x-sh | .sh |
| Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) | image/svg+xml | .svg |
| Tape Archive (TAR) | application/x-tar | .tar |
| Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) | image/tiff | .tif, .tiff |
| MPEG transport stream | video/mp2t | .ts |
| TrueType Font | font/ttf | .ttf |
| Text, (generally ASCII or ISO 8859-n) | text/plain | .txt |
| Microsoft Visio | application/vnd.visio | .vsd |
| Waveform Audio Format | audio/wav | .wav |
| WEBM audio | audio/webm | .weba |
| WEBM video | video/webm | .webm |
| WEBP image | image/webp | .webp |
| Web Open Font Format (WOFF) | font/woff | .woff |
| Web Open Font Format (WOFF) | font/woff2 | .woff2 |
| XHTML | application/xhtml+xml | .xhtml |
| Microsoft Excel | application/vnd.ms-excel | .xls |
| Microsoft Excel (OpenXML) | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet | .xlsx |
| XML | application/xml is recommended as of RFC 7303 (section 4.1), but text/xml is still used sometimes. You can assign a specific MIME type to a file with .xml extension depending on how its contents are meant to be interpreted. For instance, an Atom feed is application/atom+xml, but application/xml serves as a valid default. | .xml |
| XUL | application/vnd.mozilla.xul+xml | .xul |
| ZIP archive | application/zip. Note, Windows uploads .zip files with the non-standard MIME type application/x-zip-compressed. | .zip |
| 3GPP audio/video container | video/3gpp; audio/3gpp if it doesn't contain video | .3gp |
| 3GPP2 audio/video container | video/3gpp2; audio/3gpp2 if it doesn't contain video | .3g2 |
| 7-zip archive | application/x-7z-compressed | .7z |