.bz2 MIME type
Bzip2 filearchives
application/x-bzip2Bzip2-compressed files, usually .tar.bz2 archives.
| MIME type | application/x-bzip2 |
|---|---|
| Extensions | .bz2 |
| Content-Type | application/x-bzip2 |
| Compress in transit? | No — already compressed |
| File signature | 42 5A 68 (BZh) followed by a digit 1–9 giving the block size |
Good to know
- Bzip2 compresses better than gzip but slowly; most projects have moved on to xz or zstd.
Serve .bz2 files with the right type
The response header to send:
Content-Type: application/x-bzip2
Most servers pick the type from the file extension. If yours sends the wrong one, map it explicitly:
nginx (inside the types block in mime.types)
application/x-bzip2 bz2;
Apache (.htaccess or server config)
AddType application/x-bzip2 .bz2
Express
res.set("Content-Type", "application/x-bzip2");Python
import mimetypes
mimetypes.add_type("application/x-bzip2", ".bz2")HTML file input
<input type="file" accept=".bz2,application/x-bzip2">
Check it
See what a server sends for a file, and what type a local file really is by its contents:
curl -sI https://example.com/file.bz2 | grep -i '^content-type:' file --mime-type file.bz2
Frequently asked questions
What is the MIME type for .bz2 files?
application/x-bzip2.
What Content-Type header should a .bz2 file be served with?
Content-Type: application/x-bzip2. It's already compressed, so servers shouldn't gzip it.
How can I tell if a file is really a .bz2?
Check its bytes rather than the extension: BZ2 files start with 42 5A 68 (BZh) — followed by a digit 1–9 giving the block size. On the command line, file --mime-type name.bz2 does this for you.
Related types
Headers that go with it: Content-Type · Content-Disposition · X-Content-Type-Options