What type of MIME is suitable for the .exe file?

Question

I try to find which type of MIME corresponds to each extension, and I get mixed results.

According to webdesign.about.com the correct MIME for exe : application/octet-stream

According to freeformatter.com, the correct MIME for exe : application/x-msdownload , and it says application/octet-stream is the MIME for bin .

According to iana.org the correct MIME for exe (or sth called vnd.microsoft.portable-executable, as I don't see exe): application/vnd.microsoft.portable-executable

Which website is the most accurate reason, I don’t know what content type value I should expect on the server site in the HTTP header.

Answer 1

application / vnd.microsoft.portable-executable is a registered MIME type, and its description matches what you want to use for it.

The x- prefix in the application / x -msdownload indicates that it is experimental , so it should usually be avoided: especially if the standard is available in this case.

application / octet-stream for regular byte collections. It corresponds to an executable file, but it is not as specific as application / vnd.microsoft.portable-executable.

Use application / vnd.microsoft.portable-executable .