CODEWITHSUNDEEP
httphttp-headershttprequestcontent-type
Awesome
Awesome

Reputation: 6609

What are all the possible values for HTTP "Content-Type" header?

I have to validate the Content-Type header value before passing it to an HTTP request.

Is there a specific list for all the possible values of Content-Type?

Otherwise, is there a way to validate the content type before using it in an HTTP request?

Upvotes: 533

Views: 740019

Answers (4)

lebarillier
lebarillier

Reputation: 6714

You can find every content types here: http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/media-types.xhtml

The most common types are:

  1. Type application:

     application/java-archive
 application/EDI-X12   
 application/EDIFACT   
 application/javascript (obsolete) 
 application/octet-stream   
 application/ogg   
 application/pdf  
 application/xhtml+xml   
 application/x-shockwave-flash    
 application/json  
 application/ld+json  
 application/xml   
 application/zip  
 application/x-www-form-urlencoded

  2. Type audio:

     audio/mpeg   
 audio/x-ms-wma   
 audio/vnd.rn-realaudio   
 audio/x-wav

  3. Type image:

     image/gif   
 image/jpeg   
 image/png   
 image/tiff    
 image/vnd.microsoft.icon    
 image/x-icon   
 image/vnd.djvu   
 image/svg+xml

  4. Type multipart:

     multipart/mixed    
 multipart/alternative   
 multipart/related (using by MHTML (HTML mail).)  
 multipart/form-data

  5. Type text:

     text/css    
 text/csv
 text/event-stream    
 text/html    
 text/javascript   
 text/plain    
 text/xml

  6. Type video:

     video/mpeg    
 video/mp4    
 video/quicktime    
 video/x-ms-wmv    
 video/x-msvideo    
 video/x-flv   
 video/webm

  7. Type vnd:

     application/vnd.android.package-archive
 application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text    
 application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.spreadsheet  
 application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.presentation   
 application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.graphics   
 application/vnd.ms-excel    
 application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet   
 application/vnd.ms-powerpoint    
 application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation    
 application/msword   
 application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document   
 application/vnd.mozilla.xul+xml

Upvotes: 666

Peter Hornsby
Peter Hornsby

Reputation: 4266

I would aim at covering a subset of possible "Content-type" values, you question seems to focus on identifying known content types.

@Jeroen RFC 1341 reference is great, but for an fairly exhaustive list IANA keeps a web page of officially registered media types here.

Upvotes: 4

Jeroen Vannevel
Jeroen Vannevel

Reputation: 44439

As is defined in RFC 1341:

In the Extended BNF notation of RFC 822, a Content-Type header field value is defined as follows:

Content-Type := type "/" subtype *[";" parameter]

type := "application" / "audio" / "image" / "message" / "multipart" / "text" / "video" / x-token

x-token := < The two characters "X-" followed, with no intervening white space, by any token >

subtype := token

parameter := attribute "=" value

attribute := token

value := token / quoted-string

token := 1*<any CHAR except SPACE, CTLs, or tspecials>

tspecials := "(" / ")" / "<" / ">" / "@" ; Must be in / "," / ";" / ":" / "" / <"> ; quoted-string, / "/" / "[" / "]" / "?" / "." ; to use within / "=" ; parameter values

And a list of known MIME types that can follow it (or, as Joe remarks, the IANA source).

As you can see the list is way too big for you to validate against all of them. What you can do is validate against the general format and the type attribute to make sure that is correct (the set of options is small) and just assume that what follows it is correct (and of course catch any exceptions you might encounter when you put it to actual use).

Also note the comment above:

If another primary type is to be used for any reason, it must be given a name starting with "X-" to indicate its non-standard status and to avoid any potential conflict with a future official name.

You'll notice that a lot of HTTP requests/responses include an X- header of some sort which are self defined, keep this in mind when validating the types.

Upvotes: 61

geddamsatish
geddamsatish

Reputation: 172

If you are using jaxrs or any other, then there will be a class called mediatype.User interceptor before sending the request and compare it against this.

Upvotes: 0

Related Questions