| Extension | MIME Type | Category | Description |
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// look up mime type by extension or content-type
Look up MIME types by file extension or search by content type. Find the correct MIME type for any file format instantly — free, browser-based, no sign-up.
| Extension | MIME Type | Category | Description |
|---|
Type a file extension like .pdf or a MIME type like image/png in the search box.
Use the category tabs to narrow results by type: Text, Image, Audio, Video, App, or Font.
Click any row or the copy button to instantly copy the MIME type string to your clipboard.
MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) types are standardized identifiers used to indicate the nature and format of a file. They appear in HTTP headers, email attachments, and file system metadata, telling browsers and servers how to handle content.
A MIME type (also called a media type or content type) is a two-part identifier for file formats transmitted over the internet. It consists of a type and subtype joined by a slash, such as text/html or image/jpeg. MIME types tell software how to interpret data.
In HTTP, MIME types appear in the Content-Type header. When a server sends a response, it includes this header so the browser knows what to do with the data — display it as HTML, render it as an image, play it as audio, or prompt a file download.
The correct MIME type for JSON data is application/json. This should be set as the Content-Type header when serving JSON responses from an API or when submitting JSON data in a request body.
For web fonts, use font/woff2 for WOFF2 files (recommended), font/woff for WOFF, font/ttf for TrueType, and font/otf for OpenType. WOFF2 is the modern standard with best compression.
application/octet-stream is the default binary MIME type used when the actual type is unknown. Browsers will typically prompt a download dialog for files with this type. It's a safe fallback but you should use the specific MIME type when known.
Incorrect MIME types can lead to security vulnerabilities. MIME sniffing — where browsers guess content type — can allow attackers to execute malicious scripts. Setting X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff and using the correct MIME type prevents this attack vector.
multipart/form-data is used for HTML form submissions that include file uploads. Unlike application/x-www-form-urlencoded, it can transmit binary data and allows sending multiple files in a single request.
While a file has one primary MIME type, some formats have multiple valid MIME strings. For example, JavaScript is served as both application/javascript and text/javascript. IANA standardizes these, but legacy types still appear in real-world servers.
A MIME Type Lookup tool is an essential reference for developers, system administrators, and anyone working with web technologies. MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) types are standardized labels that identify the format of data being transmitted over the internet. Whenever a browser loads a webpage, downloads a file, or plays media, MIME types silently direct every step of that process.
This MIME Type Lookup tool provides an instant, searchable reference for over 200 common MIME types. You can search by file extension — such as .pdf, .mp4, or .json — or by MIME type string — such as application/pdf or video/webm. Results are categorized and can be copied with a single click, making it fast to find the exact string you need for your HTTP headers, configuration files, or application code.
Every MIME type follows a consistent format: type/subtype. The type is a broad category such as text, image, audio, video, application, or font. The subtype specifies the exact format within that category.
For example:
text/html — HTML documentsimage/jpeg — JPEG image filesaudio/mpeg — MP3 audio filesvideo/mp4 — MP4 video filesapplication/json — JSON datafont/woff2 — WOFF2 web fontsSome MIME types also carry parameters — additional metadata appended after a semicolon. The most common example is the charset parameter for text types: text/html; charset=utf-8. This tells the browser which character encoding to use when rendering the document.
MIME types appear throughout web development and system administration in several critical places:
Content-Type header in HTTP responses tells browsers what kind of data is being delivered. Without it, browsers may guess incorrectly or refuse to render content..htaccess file and nginx.conf both reference MIME types extensively.accept attribute on file input elements uses MIME types to filter which files users can select: <input type="file" accept="image/jpeg,image/png">.While there are hundreds of registered MIME types, developers encounter a core set regularly. Understanding these common types saves time and prevents configuration errors:
text/json in production.text/javascript.Incorrect or missing MIME types can introduce security vulnerabilities. One of the most well-known is MIME sniffing — where browsers analyze file content to guess the MIME type when the server doesn't specify one or provides an incorrect one. Attackers can exploit this by uploading files that appear to be images but contain executable JavaScript, then serving them in a context where the browser sniffs them as scripts.
To prevent MIME sniffing attacks, web servers should always send the X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff header alongside a correct Content-Type. This header instructs browsers not to override the declared MIME type, regardless of what the file content looks like.
Similarly, Content Security Policy (CSP) headers work alongside MIME types to restrict which types of content can be loaded and executed on a page, providing an additional layer of defense against cross-site scripting and data injection attacks.
In Apache, MIME types are configured in the mime.types file or via AddType directives in .htaccess:
AddType application/wasm .wasm
AddType font/woff2 .woff2In Nginx, MIME types are defined in the mime.types include file, which is loaded by the main configuration. Custom types can be added in the http block:
types {
application/wasm wasm;
font/woff2 woff2;
}For Node.js applications using Express, the res.type() method accepts both MIME type strings and file extensions, automatically setting the correct Content-Type header.
File extensions are hints — they suggest the format of a file but can be changed or spoofed by anyone. MIME types, when properly enforced, carry more authority because they're set by the server delivering the content. A file named document.pdf with Content-Type: text/html will be treated as HTML by the browser, not as a PDF.
This distinction matters for security and for cross-platform compatibility. When building applications that accept file uploads, always validate MIME type on the server side using file signature inspection (magic bytes), not just the extension or the client-provided MIME type, which can be manipulated.
MIME types are registered with IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority), which maintains the official registry. There are also vendor-specific MIME types prefixed with application/vnd. — such as application/vnd.ms-excel for older Excel files or application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet for modern XLSX files. These vendor types identify proprietary formats that don't fit standard categories.
Experimental or unstable types use the x- prefix, such as application/x-www-form-urlencoded, though many such types have since been standardized and the x- versions remain as legacy aliases.