Correct mime type for .mp4

html5-videomime-typesvideo

I have two applications as mentioned below:

Admin application through which I am able to upload a .mp4 file to the server.
I am trying to download the .mp4 using mobile application in iPad.

The Admin application is made by using asp.net 4.0 and SQL Server, IIS7.
The Mobile application is made of asp.net mvc3, jquerymobile, HTML5.

As of now I have added mime type video/mp4 for .mp4 in IIS7 mime types section.

When I am trying to download the .mp4 file in iPad I am seeing a dark black screen with cross arrow on it. Can anyone please help me to resolve the issue.

Please tell me whether the mime type video/mp4 for .mp4 is correct.

Best Answer

According to RFC 4337 § 2, video/mp4 is indeed the correct Content-Type for MPEG-4 video.

Generally, you can find official MIME definitions by searching for the file extension and "IETF" or "RFC". The RFC (Request for Comments) articles published by the IETF (Internet Engineering Taskforce) define many Internet standards, including MIME types.

Related Solutions

Excel – a correct MIME type for .docx, .pptx, etc.

Here are the correct Microsoft Office MIME types for HTTP content streaming:

Extension MIME Type
.doc      application/msword
.dot      application/msword

.docx     application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
.dotx     application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.template
.docm     application/vnd.ms-word.document.macroEnabled.12
.dotm     application/vnd.ms-word.template.macroEnabled.12

.xls      application/vnd.ms-excel
.xlt      application/vnd.ms-excel
.xla      application/vnd.ms-excel

.xlsx     application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
.xltx     application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.template
.xlsm     application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.macroEnabled.12
.xltm     application/vnd.ms-excel.template.macroEnabled.12
.xlam     application/vnd.ms-excel.addin.macroEnabled.12
.xlsb     application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.binary.macroEnabled.12

.ppt      application/vnd.ms-powerpoint
.pot      application/vnd.ms-powerpoint
.pps      application/vnd.ms-powerpoint
.ppa      application/vnd.ms-powerpoint

.pptx     application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation
.potx     application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.template
.ppsx     application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.slideshow
.ppam     application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.addin.macroEnabled.12
.pptm     application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.presentation.macroEnabled.12
.potm     application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.template.macroEnabled.12
.ppsm     application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.slideshow.macroEnabled.12

.mdb      application/vnd.ms-access

For further details check out this TechNet article and this blog post.

What MIME type should I use for CSV

RFC 7111

There is an RFC which covers it and says to use text/csv.

This RFC updates RFC 4180.

Excel

Recently I discovered an explicit mimetype for Excel application/vnd.ms-excel. It was registered with IANA in '96. Note the concerns raised about being at the mercy of the sender and having your machine violated.

Media Type: application/vnd.ms-excel

Name Microsoft Excel (tm)

Required parameters: None

Optional parameters: name

Encoding considerations: base64 preferred

Security considerations: As with most application types this data is intended for interpretation by a program that understands the data on the recipient's system. Recipients need to understand that they are at the "mercy" of the sender, when receiving this type of data, since data will be executed on their system, and the security of their machines can be violated.

OID { org-id ms-files(4) ms-excel (3) }

Object type spreadsheet

Comments This Media Type/OID is used to identify Microsoft Excel generically (i.e., independent of version, subtype, or platform format).

I wasn't aware that vendor extensions were allowed. Check out this answer to find out more - thanks starbeamrainbowlabs for the reference.