Reference

MIME types, explained

A media type (also called a MIME type or content type) tells a client how to interpret a body. The entries below cover the types you meet most often, with the registry name, extensions and the practical differences that matter when a file will not open or an API rejects a payload.

How to read a media type

The form is type/subtype, optionally followed by parameters such as charset=utf-8 or boundary=.... The type names the family (text, image, audio, video, application, multipart) and the subtype names the format. Media types are registered with IANA; the registry is the authority when two servers disagree.

In HTTP the value travels in the Content-Type header for requests and responses. In HTML it appears in <script type>, <link type> and file inputs. A wrong type can make a browser download a file instead of rendering it, or make an API parser read bytes with the wrong grammar.

Where these definitions come from

Names and registrations follow the IANA media type registry, RFC 9110 for HTTP semantics, and the format-specific standards cited in each entry. Descriptions of browser behavior are practical observations, not part of the registration.

All entries

application/gzipThe media type for gzip-compressed files (.gz), distinct from Content-Encoding: gzip. application/jsonapplication/json is the media type for JSON documents exchanged between clients and servers. application/ld+jsonapplication/ld+json is JSON-LD: JSON that encodes linked-data structured markup. application/octet-streamapplication/octet-stream is the generic media type for arbitrary binary data with no more specific type. application/pdfapplication/pdf is the media type for PDF documents. application/x-www-form-urlencodedapplication/x-www-form-urlencoded is the default encoding for HTML form submissions. application/xmlapplication/xml is the media type for generic XML documents. application/zipapplication/zip is the media type for ZIP archives. audio/mpegaudio/mpeg is the media type for MP3 audio. audio/oggOgg container audio, typically Vorbis or Opus, identified with a codecs parameter. font/woff2font/woff2 is the media type for WOFF2 web fonts. image/avifAVIF images built on the AV1 codec, with alpha and HDR support. image/jpegimage/jpeg is the media type for JPEG photographs and other lossy raster images. image/pngimage/png is the media type for PNG images — lossless raster graphics with transparency. image/svg+xmlimage/svg+xml is the media type for SVG: scalable vector graphics written in XML. image/webpimage/webp is a modern image format with lossy and lossless modes and transparency. multipart/form-datamultipart/form-data is the media type for forms that include files or binary fields. text/csstext/css is the media type for Cascading Style Sheets. text/csvtext/csv is comma-separated values — a plain-text table with one record per line. text/htmltext/html is the media type for HTML documents — the format browsers parse into a page. text/javascripttext/javascript is the standard media type for JavaScript source files. text/plaintext/plain is unformatted text: no markup, no structure, just characters and line breaks. video/mp4video/mp4 is the media type for MP4 video files.