MIME Types Reference
A MIME type (also called a media type or Content-Type) tells a browser or HTTP client how to interpret the bytes it just received. Getting this header right is the difference between a downloaded file and a rendered image, a parsed JSON document and a mystery blob.
This reference covers the media types you meet every day when building on the web — application/json, text/html, image/webp, video/mp4 — along with lesser-known ones that trip up developers (application/x-ndjson, application/wasm, image/svg+xml). Each entry explains what it means, when to use it, the common misconfiguration that breaks things, and the standard that defines it.
application/*
Application data — documents, code, archives, and API payloads.
application/json
JSON · .json
application/ld+json
JSON-LD · .jsonld
application/x-ndjson
Newline-Delimited JSON · .ndjson
application/xml
XML · .xml
application/atom+xml
Atom Feed · .atom
application/rss+xml
RSS Feed · .rss
application/pdf
PDF · .pdf
application/zip
ZIP archive · .zip
application/gzip
gzip · .gz
application/x-tar
tar archive · .tar
application/octet-stream
Binary stream · .bin
application/javascript
JavaScript · .js
application/wasm
WebAssembly · .wasm
application/x-www-form-urlencoded
URL-encoded form · no ext
application/graphql
GraphQL query · .graphql
application/vnd.api+json
JSON:API · no ext
application/manifest+json
Web App Manifest · .webmanifest
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Word (.docx) · .docx
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
Excel (.xlsx) · .xlsx
application/vnd.ms-excel
Excel (legacy .xls) · .xls
application/rtf
Rich Text Format · .rtf
text/*
Human-readable text formats like HTML, CSS, plain text, and CSV.
image/*
Raster and vector image formats used across the web.
audio/*
Compressed and uncompressed audio media types.
video/*
Video containers and codecs for HTML <video> playback.
font/*
Web font containers used by @font-face.
multipart/*
Composite payloads with multiple parts, like form uploads.
message/*
Email and message-oriented payloads.