MIME types (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) relay information to the browser about how to handle file extensions. MIME types can allow visitors’ browsers to handle new technologies as they become available.For example you can add the extension .cgi of MIME Type — application/cgi to be handled by the browser.
In other words ,MIME type tells browsers how to handle specific extensions. For example, the text/html MIME type equates to .htm, .html, and .shtml extensions on most servers, and this tells your browser to interpret all files with those extensions as HTML files.
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is responsible for all official MIME types, and you can find the most up-to-date and complete list at their Media Types list page.
In addition you can alter or add new MIME type specifically for your site . MIME types are often used to handle new technologies as they appear. When WAP technology first appeared no one had these extensions set up on their server. With MIME types, however, you could have set it up yourself and begun serving WAP pages immediately.
How to add a new MIME Type in cPanel
- Login to your cPanel account.
- From Advance Section from your cPanel dashboard click MIME Type icon.
- From MIME Types page under Create A MIME Type enter the following:
- MIME Type:Enter the name of the file type’s handler in the MIME Type text box.For example, application/cgi
- Extension(s):Enter the file extension in the Extension(s) text box.For example:.cgi , Separate multiple extension types with a space
- Click Add button.
Structure of a MIME type
The simplest MIME type consists of a type and a subtype; these are each strings which, when concatenated with a slash (/) between them, comprise a MIME type. No whitespace is allowed in a MIME type , Structure format:
type/subtype
The type represents the major general category into which the data type falls, such as audio or text. And the subtype identifies the exact kind of data of the specified type the MIME type represents to be served.
How to Delete MIME Type in cPanel
- Login to your cPanel account.
- From Advance Section from your cPanel dashboard click MIME Type icon.
- Under User Defined MIME Types list from Action column you can click Delete link to remove the MIME type from your list, “Please note that you can only Delete the user defined MIME types, the built in system MIME types cant be deleted”.
