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1. Introduction

The initial document in the MIME series, RFC 2045, specifies the various headers used to describe the structure of MIME messages. This second document defines the general structure of the MIME media type system and defines an initial set of media types.

A media type is an identifier used in the Content-Type header field to specify the type of data. Media types consist of a top-level type and a subtype, separated by a slash.

Structure of MIME Media Types​

media-type = type "/" subtype *( ";" parameter )

This document defines seven initial top-level media types:

  • text: Textual information
  • image: Image data
  • audio: Audio data
  • video: Video data
  • application: Other types of data
  • multipart: Data consisting of multiple parts
  • message: Encapsulated messages

Related Documents:

  • RFC 2045: MIME Part One - Message Body Format
  • RFC 2047: MIME Part Three - Message Header Extensions
  • RFC 2048: MIME Part Four - Registration Procedures
  • RFC 2049: MIME Part Five - Conformance Criteria
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