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MIME Type
text/markdown
TextMIME type for Markdown-formatted text documents.
MIME type reference, HTTP example, browser usage, common mistakes, and related content.
What is the text/markdown MIME type?
The MIME type text/markdown is used to tell browsers, APIs, and servers how a file or response body should be interpreted.
MIME stands for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, and MIME types are now a standard part of HTTP responses and web content delivery.
When a browser or client receives a response with text/markdown, it uses that information to decide how the content should be processed, rendered, downloaded, or executed.
Example
Content-Type: text/markdown
HTTP example
HTTP/1.1 200 OK Content-Type: text/markdown Content-Length: 1256
Common file extensions
.md.markdown
Common use cases
- Serving raw Markdown files
- Documentation APIs
- Content management systems
Common mistakes
- Using the wrong MIME type for the file being served
- Returning text/plain instead of text/markdown
- Forgetting required parameters like charset when relevant
- Using a deprecated MIME type in older server configurations
- Serving assets with a mismatched Content-Type header, causing browser parsing issues
How browsers use it
Browsers use the Content-Type response header to decide how a response should be handled. For example, HTML is rendered as a page, CSS is parsed as styles, JavaScript is executed as script, and images are displayed visually. If the MIME type is incorrect, the browser may refuse to load the file correctly or may treat it as plain text or a download instead.
Practical developer insight
text/markdown is registered in RFC 7763. Browsers do not render Markdown natively — the content will be displayed as plain text or trigger a download depending on the browser. Most use cases involve parsing Markdown server-side or in JavaScript before rendering as HTML.