Configuring MIME Content-Type values

About MIME Content-Type values

The MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) Content-Type value of a file tells a browser on a client how to interpret the file. For example, if the MIME Content-Type value shows that a file is an image file, and the client is configured properly, the browser can render the image by using a graphics program.

Note
For more information about MIME, see RFC 1521.

How the filer sends MIME Content-Type values

You can configure the filer to send the appropriate MIME Content-Type value in each response to a get request from a client. You configure the filer by mapping the file name suffix, for example, .gif, .html, or .mpg, according to information in the /etc/httpd.mimetypes file.

Mapping file name suffixes

You edit the /etc/httpd.mimetypes file to map a file name suffix to a MIME Content-Type value.

To edit the /etc/httpd.mimetypes file, complete the following step.

Step	Action
1	Edit the entries in the /etc/httpd.mimetypes file. Entries are in the following format: # An optional comment. suffix Content-Type Lines preceded by the # sign are comments. The file name suffix is not case-sensitive.

Example

The following are sample entries:

# My clients' browsers can now use

# PICT graphics files.

pct        image/pict

pict       image/pict

In the sample entries, files whose names end with .pct or .pict are mapped to the MIME Content-Type value of image/pict. The first field in the Content-Type value describes the general type of data contained in the file; the second field is the data subtype, which shows the specific format in which the data is stored. If the browser on the client is configured to start a graphics program as a helper application, the user can view a file named file.pict as a graphics file on the client.