What is a MIME type and where is it used?

A MIME type (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) is a standardized identifier for file formats on the internet, formatted as type/subtype (e.g., text/html, image/png). It is used by browsers, email clients, and web servers to correctly interpret and handle file content.

What is the difference between application/json and text/json?

application/json is the official MIME type for JSON data per RFC 8259 and is universally recognized. text/json is a non-standard variant sometimes used for backward compatibility. For new applications, always use application/json.

Reference

MIME Types Reference

Common MIME types (Internet media types) with file extensions and descriptions.

Last updated: 2026-08-27

mimeType	extension	description
text/html	.html	HTML document
text/css	.css	CSS stylesheet
text/javascript	.js	JavaScript file
application/json	.json	JSON data
text/plain	.txt	Plain text
text/xml	.xml	XML document
application/xml	.xml	XML data
image/jpeg	.jpg	JPEG image
image/png	.png	PNG image
image/gif	.gif	GIF image
image/svg+xml	.svg	SVG vector image
image/webp	.webp	WebP image
image/x-icon	.ico	Icon file
audio/mpeg	.mp3	MP3 audio
audio/ogg	.ogg	OGG audio
audio/wav	.wav	WAV audio
video/mp4	.mp4	MP4 video
video/webm	.webm	WebM video
application/pdf	.pdf	PDF document
application/zip	.zip	ZIP archive
application/gzip	.gz	Gzip compressed file
application/x-tar	.tar	Tar archive
application/wasm	.wasm	WebAssembly binary
application/octet-stream	.bin	Binary data
multipart/form-data	—	Multipart form data (file uploads)
application/x-www-form-urlencoded	—	URL-encoded form data
text/markdown	.md	Markdown document
application/yaml	.yaml	YAML data
font/woff	.woff	WOFF font
font/woff2	.woff2	WOFF2 font
application/typescript	.ts	TypeScript file

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a MIME type and where is it used?: A MIME type (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) is a standardized identifier for file formats on the internet, formatted as type/subtype (e.g., text/html, image/png). It is used by browsers, email clients, and web servers to correctly interpret and handle file content.
What is the difference between application/json and text/json?: application/json is the official MIME type for JSON data per RFC 8259 and is universally recognized. text/json is a non-standard variant sometimes used for backward compatibility. For new applications, always use application/json.