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MIME Type
video/x-msvideo
VideoMIME type for AVI video files, a legacy Microsoft container format.
MIME type reference, HTTP example, browser usage, common mistakes, and related content.
What is the video/x-msvideo MIME type?
The MIME type video/x-msvideo 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 video/x-msvideo, it uses that information to decide how the content should be processed, rendered, downloaded, or executed.
Example
Content-Type: video/x-msvideo
HTTP example
HTTP/1.1 200 OK Content-Type: video/x-msvideo Content-Length: 1256
Common file extensions
.avi
Common use cases
- Legacy video downloads
- Serving older video content
- Video archives and backups
Common mistakes
- Using the wrong MIME type for the file being served
- Returning text/plain instead of video/x-msvideo
- 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.
Browser support
Poor inline browser support. Treat as a download-only format for web use.
Practical developer insight
AVI is a legacy format with limited modern browser support for inline playback. It is still frequently encountered in user uploads and older media libraries. Converting to MP4 is strongly recommended for web delivery.