# .mpd MIME Type: application/dash+xml

> The manifest of an MPEG-DASH adaptive stream — the XML counterpart to an HLS .m3u8 playlist.

- MIME type: `application/dash+xml`
- Extensions: .mpd
- Content-Type header: `application/dash+xml; charset=utf-8`
- Compress in transit: yes

## Good to know

- Browsers don't play DASH natively. Players like dash.js and Shaka Player fetch the manifest and feed the segments to Media Source Extensions.
- Apple devices have long preferred HLS, so services that stream everywhere usually publish both an `.mpd` and an `.m3u8`, often over the same segments.
- Live manifests change constantly: give them a short cache lifetime while the segments cache for a long time.

## Server configuration

### nginx (inside the types block in mime.types)

```
application/dash+xml mpd;
```

### Apache (.htaccess or server config)

```
AddType application/dash+xml .mpd
```

### Express

```
res.set("Content-Type", "application/dash+xml; charset=utf-8");
```

### Python

```
import mimetypes

mimetypes.add_type("application/dash+xml", ".mpd")
```

### HTML file input

```
<input type="file" accept=".mpd,application/dash+xml">
```

## FAQ

### What is the MIME type for .mpd files?

`application/dash+xml`.

### What Content-Type header should a .mpd file be served with?

`Content-Type: application/dash+xml; charset=utf-8`. As a text format, include the charset so browsers don't guess the encoding. It compresses well, so let the server apply gzip or Brotli.

## Related types

- [.m3u8 — application/vnd.apple.mpegurl](https://www.devkult.com/mime/m3u8.md)
- [.mp4 — video/mp4](https://www.devkult.com/mime/mp4.md)
- [.webm — video/webm](https://www.devkult.com/mime/webm.md)

Open the interactive page: https://www.devkult.com/mime/mpd