MIME

Revision as of 05:12, 8 March 2014

MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) is an extension of Internet e-mail message format. Among other things, it defines a standard way to attach files to an email message. It is also used in the HTTP protocol to identify media types on the Web.

Format

A MIME-compliant message is identified by the presence of a "MIME-Version" message header. The other headers used by MIME begin with "Content-".

Since MIME data is usually found as part of a message (as stored or transmitted by various means) rather than as a standalone file, it usually doesn't have a file extension. MIME headers or MIME-encoded messages saved for archiving or as example files might sometimes have a .mime extension.

See also

• Mime-type

Specifications

• RFC 2045: MIME Part One: Format of Internet Message Bodies
• RFC 2046: MIME Part Two: Media types
• RFC 2047: MIME Part Three: Message Header Extensions for Non-ASCII Text
• RFC 2049: MIME Part Five: Conformance Criteria and Examples
• RFC 2183: The Content-Disposition Header Field
• RFC 2231: MIME Parameter Value and Encoded Word Extensions: Character Sets, Languages, and Continuations
• RFC 2387: The MIME Multipart/Related Content-type
• RFC 3676: The Text/Plain Format and DelSp Parameters
• RFC 3798: Message Disposition Notification
• RFC 4289: MIME Part Four: Registration Procedures
• RFC 5147: URI Fragment Identifiers for the text/plain Media Type
• RFC 6532: Internationalized Email Headers
• RFC 6533: Internationalized Delivery Status and Disposition Notifications
• RFC 6838: Media Type Specifications and Registration Procedures

Sample files

• http://libxad.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/libxad/testfiles/ASCII/mime/ → *.mime