File types preferences

Opera handles some file types itself, such as Web page documents. Others are passed on to plug-ins and external applications, or just saved on your computer. The File type preferences let you control Opera's behavior when it encounters different file types.

File identification

When you click on a link in a Web page pointing to a file, the server tells the browser which MIME type the file has. For instance, text/html is the MIME type for a normal Web page.

In most cases, identifying by MIME works just fine. However, quite a few misconfigured Web servers report incorrect MIME types. The two MIME types that are most frequently misreported are application/octet-stream and text/plain.

If Opera seems to perform a different default action than what you have configured it to do, you can identify files with these two MIME types by file extension instead.

The Internet Control Panel

MIME types can be configured globally in the Internet Control Panel. Normally there should be no need to change these settings. Alternatively you can define them in Opera (advanced).

Setting default actions for file types

Adding a file type

Click
Enter the MIME type you wish to set an action for, and make sure you know the exact MIME string involved
Enter the file extension associated with the MIME type -- you can specify multiple extensions separated by commas (for example "jpeg, jpg, jpe")
Select what Opera should do when you click on links to files of this type
Click

Editing a file type

Select the MIME type in the list you wish to edit
Click
Make changes like when adding new file types
Click

Note: Tampering with MIME types may have unwanted side-effects, so be sure you know what you're doing.

Deleting a file type

Select the MIME type in the list you wish to delete
Click
Confirm that you want to delete the type

Note: Deleting MIME types may have unwanted side-effects, so be sure you know what you're doing.

Actions explained

Open with Opera	Opens the file using Opera itself. Opera can display text and several markup languages, images and video formats. Be sure that Opera can display a certain file type before choosing this setting.
Save to disk	Downloads and saves the file on your computer.
Open with default application	Lets the operating system launch the file in the application set as its default.
Open with other application	Specify explicitly which external application you want to use (if you don't want to use the operating system's default application).
Use plug-in	Here you select which plug-in you want to use for this MIME type. Normally, you will not have to change this setting as it is handled automatically by Opera.
Always ask	Lets you decide in each individual case. Opens a dialog where you can decide whether to open the downloaded file, or just save it to open later.
Use Internet Control Panel	Do whatever is defined in the Internet Control Panel.