Media Type Specifications and Registration Procedures
This specification has been revised 12 times since RFC 1341 (1992). Each document below formally obsoleted the one before it; the versions still in force are listed first.
Revision timeline
Current versions — implement against these
- RFC 2045Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part One: Format of Internet Message BodiesUpdatedNovember 1996draft standard
- RFC 2046Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media TypesUpdatedNovember 1996draft standard
- RFC 2047MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) Part Three: Message Header Extensions for Non-ASCII TextUpdatedNovember 1996draft standard
- RFC 2049Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Five: Conformance Criteria and ExamplesCurrentNovember 1996draft standard
- RFC 4289Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Four: Registration ProceduresCurrentDecember 2005best current practice
- RFC 6838Media Type Specifications and Registration ProceduresUpdatedJanuary 2013best current practice
Superseded versions — historical reference only
- RFC 1341MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions): Mechanisms for Specifying and Describing the Format of Internet Message BodiesObsoletedJune 1992proposed standardreplaced by RFC1521
- RFC 1342Representation of Non-ASCII Text in Internet Message HeadersObsoletedJune 1992proposed standardreplaced by RFC1522
- RFC 1521MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) Part One: Mechanisms for Specifying and Describing the Format of Internet Message BodiesObsoletedSeptember 1993draft standardreplaced by RFC2045, RFC2046, RFC2047, RFC2048, RFC2049
- RFC 1522MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) Part Two: Message Header Extensions for Non-ASCII TextObsoletedSeptember 1993draft standardreplaced by RFC2045, RFC2046, RFC2047, RFC2048, RFC2049
- RFC 1590Media Type Registration ProcedureObsoletedMarch 1994informationalreplaced by RFC2045, RFC2046, RFC2047, RFC2048, RFC2049
- RFC 2048Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Four: Registration ProceduresObsoletedNovember 1996best current practicereplaced by RFC4288, RFC4289
- RFC 4288Media Type Specifications and Registration ProceduresObsoletedDecember 2005best current practicereplaced by RFC6838
This lineage is derived automatically from the “obsoletes” relationships recorded in the public RFC Editor index — no editorial judgement is applied to the ordering. The most recent document in the chain is RFC 6838 (January 2013).