How can I find out a file's MIME type (Content-Type)?

Question

Is there a way to find out the MIME type (or is it called "Content-Type"?) of a file in a Linux bash script?

The reason I need it is because ImageShack appears to need it to upload a file, as for some reason it detects the .png file as an application/octet-stream file.

I’ve checked the file, and it really is a PNG image:

$ cat /1.png 
?PNG
(with a heap load of random characters)

This gives me the error:

$ curl -F "fileupload=@/1.png" http://www.imageshack.us/upload_api.php
<links>
<error id="wrong_file_type">Wrong file type detected for file 1.png:application/octet-stream</error>
</links>

This works, but I need to specify a MIME-TYPE.

$ curl -F "fileupload=@/1.png;type=image/png" http://www.imageshack.us/upload_api.php

score 333 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 01 '16 at 12:39

333

Use file. Examples:

> file --mime-type image.png
image.png: image/png

> file -b --mime-type image.png
image/png

> file -i FILE_NAME
image.png: image/png; charset=binary

edited Mar 01 '16 at 12:39

jozxyqk

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answered Feb 09 '10 at 06:25

bhups

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1

Not if you use the Git bash under windows. – tivo Sep 23 '11 at 08:25
2

To get **just** the mime-type you could do: `file --mime-type FILE_NAME | awk '{print $2}'` – Justin Jenkins Aug 23 '12 at 00:30
35

@JustinJenkins -b omits the filename so `file -b --mime-type FILE_NAME` returns just the mime type – jaygooby Jan 31 '13 at 16:12
or `kmimetypefinder filename` – Alex Bitek Jul 11 '13 at 12:07
1

Doesn't recognize `application/xml` or `text/xml` – Tseng Jun 01 '17 at 09:05
1

and `file -bi FILE_NAME` returns "mime-type" and "charset" only. – Sadi Feb 15 '20 at 11:00
Also wrong for XML: `file -b --mime-type image.svg` returns `image/svg` where it should be `image/svg+xml` – Martynas Jusevičius Jan 04 '23 at 22:09

score 35 · Answer 2 · edited Sep 10 '18 at 11:52

35

one of the other tool (besides file) you can use is xdg-mime

eg xdg-mime query filetype <file>

if you have yum,

yum install xdg-utils.noarch

An example comparison of xdg-mime and file on a Subrip(subtitles) file

$ xdg-mime query filetype subtitles.srt
application/x-subrip

$ file --mime-type subtitles.srt
subtitles.srt: text/plain

in the above file only show it as plain text.

edited Sep 10 '18 at 11:52

MayeulC

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answered Feb 09 '10 at 06:25

ghostdog74

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xdg-mime query filetype install.sql; xprop: unable to open display '' – a coder Oct 09 '12 at 12:42
1

xdg-mime is a bash script an relies heavily on environment variables. Some of them e.g. DE are not set if you are not logged into a session. Check it out yourself `$ less $(which xdg-mime)` – ManuelSchneid3r Sep 08 '14 at 23:32

Andrey · Answer 3 · 2013-09-04T21:37:28.790

12

file version < 5 : file -i -b /path/to/file
file version >=5 : file --mime-type -b /path/to/file

edited Sep 04 '13 at 21:37

answered Sep 04 '13 at 21:25

Andrey

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what do you mean by file version? – user2867106 Apr 12 '19 at 09:38
5

@user2867106 I think he mean the version of the file command. – jgh fun-run Mar 24 '20 at 14:49

score 7 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 09 '10 at 06:26

7

Try the file command with -i option.

-i option Causes the file command to output mime type strings rather than the more traditional human readable ones. Thus it may say text/plain; charset=us-ascii rather than ASCII text.

answered Feb 09 '10 at 06:26

codaddict

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score 2 · Answer 5 · answered May 30 '12 at 19:10

2

file --mime works, but not --mime-type. at least for my RHEL 5.

answered May 30 '12 at 19:10

fanchyna

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score 1 · Answer 6 · answered May 12 '22 at 11:37

For detecting MIME-types, use the aptly named "mimetype" command.

It has a number of options for formatting the output, it even has an option for backward compatibility to "file".

But most of all, it accepts input not only as file, but also via stdin/pipe, so you can avoid temporary files when processing streams.

How can I find out a file's MIME type (Content-Type)?

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