RFC 6838 - Media Type Specifications and Registration Procedures

Published: January 2013
Status: Best Current Practice (BCP 13)
Authors: N. Freed (Oracle), J. Klensin, T. Hansen (AT&T Laboratories)
Obsoletes: RFC 4288, 4289

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Abstract

This document defines procedures for the specification and registration of media types for use in HTTP, MIME, and other Internet protocols.

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Table of Contents

• 1. Introduction
  • 1.1 Historical Note
  • 1.2 Conventions Used in This Document
• 2. Media Type Registration Preliminaries
• 3. Registration Trees and Subtype Names
  • 3.1 Standards Tree
  • 3.2 Vendor Tree
  • 3.3 Personal or Vanity Tree
  • 3.4 Unregistered x. Tree
  • 3.5 Additional Registration Trees
• 4. Registration Requirements
  • 4.1 Functionality Requirement
  • 4.2 Naming Requirements
  • 4.3 Parameter Requirements
  • 4.4 Canonicalization and Format Requirements
  • 4.5 Interchange Recommendations
  • 4.6 Security Requirements
  • 4.7 Requirements Specific to XML Media Types
  • 4.8 Encoding Requirements
  • 4.9 Usage and Implementation Non-Requirements
  • 4.10 Publication Requirements
  • 4.11 Fragment Identifier Requirements
  • 4.12 Additional Information
• 5. Media Type Registration Procedures
  • 5.1 Preliminary Community Review
  • 5.2 Submit Request to IANA
  • 5.3 Review and Approval
  • 5.4 Comments on Media Type Registrations
  • 5.5 Change Procedures
  • 5.6 Registration Template
• 6. Structured Syntax Suffix Registration Procedures
  • 6.1 Change Procedures
  • 6.2 Structured Syntax Suffix Registration Template
• 7. Security Considerations
• 8. IANA Considerations
• 9. Acknowledgments
• 10. References
  • 10.1 Normative References
  • 10.2 Informative References

Appendices

• Appendix A. Grandfathered Media Types
• Appendix B. Changes since RFC 4288

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Related Resources

• Official Text: RFC 6838
• Official Page: RFC 6838 DataTracker
• Errata: RFC Editor Errata
• IANA Registry: Media Types Registry

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