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Is there a default MIME Type?

Question by Guest | Last update on 2024-01-03 | Created on 2014-12-13

At the moment, I am writing an application that should find out the MIME Types of files or to be more precise for different file formats respectively file types.

Of course, considering the endless amount of different file formats, it is not possible to make the program detect the MIME type of each file that is imaginable. This is the reason why I am searching for something like a "default" or "standard" MIME Type that I can use for each unknown file type the tool will be confronted with.

Unfortunately, in all of those lists, you can find around the Internet, there are defined and listed MIME Types for each possible file extension you can think about, but there is never mentioned a default type. Is there something?

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3Best Answer3 Votes

In doubt, you can just use the MIME-Type application/octet-stream for unknown files.

It is better to use this official MIME Type rather than inventing any own types such as application/xyzabc or to refer to unofficial types leading to problems when some of the programs involved cannot handle those types.

With application/octet-stream, you just say, that there is an arbitrary array of bytes and the receiver can decide what to do with them.
Last update on 2024-01-03 | Created on 2014-12-16

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