MIME Types

MIME Types

This tool allows you to add custom MIME types to your site.  Note that any custom MIME type entered will override the default MIME types that exist on the server.

Before adding a custom MIME type, you can check to see if it already exists by clicking the "View List of Default MIME" button.

Custom MIME types can be used to tell the server how to process files with nonstandard extensions.  So for example, if you created an HTML file that you wanted to name index.you, you could use it on your web site simply by creating a .you MIME type.  Then when a visitor went to http://YourHostedDomainName.com/index.you, the HTML page would be displayed.

To set up the .you MIME type, enter .you in the "Extension" field, and text/html in the "MIME Type" field.  Then every time a .you file is requested, the server knows to process it as an HTML page.

If this tool is used incorrectly, it may cause your web site to stop functioning.

Manually Coding MIME Types in Your Application's web.config File

This process varies based on whether the Site or Application has an existing web.config file.

If the web.config File Exists

Open the existing web.config file and place the following code between the lines of <system.webServer> and </system.webServer>.  Replace the fileExtensions and mimeType variables as needed.

<staticContent>
  <mimeMap fileExtension=".mp4" mimeType="application/mp4" />
  <mimeMap fileExtension=".woff" mimeType="font/woff" />
</staticContent>

If the web.config File Does Not Exist

If there is no web.config file for the site or application root, place the following code inside a text document.  Replace the fileExtensions and mimeType variables as needed.  Save the file and name it web.config, then upload it to the root folder of your site or application with your preferred FTP application.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
  <system.webServer>
    <staticContent>
      <mimeMap fileExtension=".mp4" mimeType="application/mp4" />
      <mimeMap fileExtension=".woff" mimeType="font/woff" />
    </staticContent>
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>

IANA maintains an official list here.