---
name: "LWP::MediaTypes"
section: "3pm"
platform: "linux"
package: "perl-lwp-mediatypes"
version: "6.05-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/LWP::MediaTypes"
---

# LWP::MediaTypes(3pm)

guess media type for a file or a URL

## NAME

LWP::MediaTypes - guess media type for a file or a URL

## SYNOPSIS

```
 use LWP::MediaTypes qw(guess_media_type);
 $type = guess_media_type("/tmp/foo.gif");
```

## DESCRIPTION

This module provides functions for handling media (also known as MIME) types and encodings.  The mapping from file extensions to media types is defined by the *media.types* file.  If the *~/.media.types* file exists it is used instead. For backwards compatibility we will also look for *~/.mime.types*.

The following functions are exported by default:

- guess\_media\_type( $filename )

  - guess\_media\_type( $uri )

  - guess\_media\_type( $filename\_or\_object, $header\_to\_modify )

  This function tries to guess media type and encoding for a file or objects that support the a `"path"` or `"filename"` method, eg, URI or File::Temp objects. When an object does not support either method, it will be stringified to determine the filename. It returns the content type, which is a string like `"text/html"`. In array context it also returns any content encodings applied (in the order used to encode the file).  You can pass a URI object reference, instead of the file name.

  If the type can not be deduced from looking at the file name, then **guess\_media\_type()** will let the `"-T"` Perl operator take a look. If this works (and `"-T"` returns a TRUE value) then we return *text/plain* as the type, otherwise we return *application/octet-stream* as the type.

  The optional second argument should be a reference to a HTTP::Headers object or any object that implements the `$obj`-\>header method in a similar way.  When it is present the values of the 'Content-Type' and 'Content-Encoding' will be set for this header.

- media\_suffix( $type, ... )

  This function will return all suffixes that can be used to denote the specified media type(s).  Wildcard types can be used.  In a scalar context it will return the first suffix found. Examples:

  ```
    @suffixes = media_suffix('image/*', 'audio/basic');
    $suffix = media_suffix('text/html');
  ```

The following functions are only exported by explicit request:

- add\_type( $type, @exts )

  Associate a list of file extensions with the given media type. Example:

  ```
      add_type("x-world/x-vrml" => qw(wrl vrml));
  ```

- add\_encoding( $type, @ext )

  Associate a list of file extensions with an encoding type. Example:

  ```
   add_encoding("x-gzip" => "gz");
  ```

- read\_media\_types( @files )

  Parse media types files and add the type mappings found there. Example:

  ```
      read_media_types("conf/mime.types");
  ```

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright 1995-1999 Gisle Aas.

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.