Administration Tool: MIME Types

Suffix mappings are used to map file name extensions (filename.ext) to MIME types (type/subtype). When Java Web Server^(TM) receives a file request, the MIME type indicated by the suffix mapping tells the server the format in which the requested data should be returned to the client.

If Java Web Server can't find a suffix mapping entry in the list, it maps the file name suffix to the default MIME type text/plain. This means that the server uses the text transfer method and assumes that it is returning plain text.

Note:
The file name extension is read as lower case (thus, HTML is equivalent to html) for the purposes of mapping it against the appropriate MIME type. For instructions on how to make extensions case sensitive, see Setting Case-sensitive MIME Mappings.
 

Tip:
For easier suffix mapping and fielding of requests, you can enter spelling variations for common extensions into the Extension list. For example, you could enter both gif and giff into the list as variations of the type/subtype image/gif. This way, Java Web Server will properly service requests for the file type even if the requesting suffix is misspelled.