Meaning – The term MIME, or multipurpose internet mail extensions, refers to an Internet standard that extends the format of email messages to support text in character sets other than ASCII, as well as attachments of audio, video, images, and application programs.
Email messages with MIME formatting are typically transmitted with standard protocols, such as the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), the Post Office Protocol (POP), and the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP).
Although the MIME formalism was designed mainly for SMTP, its content types are also important in other communication protocols. In the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) for the World Wide Web, servers insert a MIME header field at the beginning of any Web transmission. Clients use the content type or media type header to select an appropriate viewer application for the type of data indicated.
Example of usage – “The web servers insert the MIME header at the beginning of any Web transmission. Clients use this content type or media type header to select an appropriate “player” application for the type of data the header indicates.”
