.tar MIME type
Tar archivearchives
application/x-tarUncompressed Unix archives, usually compressed afterwards as .tar.gz or .tar.xz.
| MIME type | application/x-tar |
|---|---|
| Extensions | .tar |
| Content-Type | application/x-tar |
| Compress in transit? | Yes — enable gzip or Brotli |
| File signature | 75 73 74 61 72 (ustar) at offset 257 |
Good to know
- A plain
.tarisn't compressed, so it compresses well in transit.
Serve .tar files with the right type
The response header to send:
Content-Type: application/x-tar
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-tar tar;
Apache (.htaccess or server config)
AddType application/x-tar .tar
Express
res.set("Content-Type", "application/x-tar");Python
import mimetypes
mimetypes.add_type("application/x-tar", ".tar")HTML file input
<input type="file" accept=".tar,application/x-tar">
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.tar | grep -i '^content-type:' file --mime-type file.tar
Frequently asked questions
What is the MIME type for .tar files?
application/x-tar.
What Content-Type header should a .tar file be served with?
Content-Type: application/x-tar. It compresses well, so let the server apply gzip or Brotli.
How can I tell if a file is really a .tar?
Check its bytes rather than the extension: TAR files contain 75 73 74 61 72 (ustar) at byte offset 257. On the command line, file --mime-type name.tar does this for you.
Related types
Headers that go with it: Content-Type · Content-Disposition · X-Content-Type-Options