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- <H1>MIME</H1>
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- MIME (or Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) is a standard for
- sending multimedia file types by e-mail. File types are
- identified by their MIME type, a value that specifies the type and subtype of the data.
- For example, the MIME type used to identify JPEG files is
- <I>image/jpeg</I>.
-
- <P>MIME type information is included with most files sent over the
- Internet. This information is used by Mosaic to determine the type of
- file. If a MIME type is not provided, Mosaic uses the file extension to
- determine the file type. After determining the file type, Mosaic either
- handles the file type internally or sends the file to the appropriate
- helper application.
-
- <P>If Mosaic cannot handle the file type and an appropriate helper
- application is not available, the Unhandled File Type dialog is
- displayed. This dialog allows you to save the file without viewing it;
- configure a helper application and view the file; or cancel the file
- transfer.
-
- <P><B>To determine the MIME type for a given file type:</B>
- <P>
- <OL>
- <LI>Open the list of <A
- HREF="ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/iana/assignments/media-types/media-types">registered
- MIME types</A>.
- <P><LI>Choose the MIME type that best describes the file type.
-
- <P><LI>If none of the registered MIME types describe the file type, you
- can define your own MIME type/subtype. For the <I>type</I> part
- of the MIME type, use one of the following types:
-
- <UL>
- <P><LI>text
- <LI>multipart
- <LI>message
- <LI>application
- <LI>image
- <LI>audio
- <LI>video
- </UL>
- <P>If none of these types describe the file type, use the
- <I>application</I> type.
-
- <P><LI>Use your own description for the <I>subtype</I>. To distinguish
- your subtype from registered subtypes, type "x-" before the
- subtype. For example: application/x-acad
-
- </OL>
-
- <P>Additional information:
- <P>
- <UL>
- <LI><A HREF="http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/mail/mime-faq/top.html">MIME FAQ</A>
- <LI><A HREF="http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/Docs/rfc1521.txt">Technical
- overview of MIME (RFC 1521)</A>
- <LI><A HREF="http://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc1590.txt">MIME type registration
- procedure</A> </UL>
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