textual information in a number of character sets and
            formatted text description languages in a standardized
            manner.

       2.b. A "multipart" Content-Type value, which can be used to
            combine several body parts, possibly of differing types of
            data, into a single message.

       2.c. An "application" Content-Type value, which can be used to
            transmit application data or binary data, and hence, among
            other uses, to implement an electronic mail file transfer
            service.

       2.d. A "message" Content-Type value, for encapsulating another
            mail message.

       2.e An "image" Content-Type value, for transmitting still image
            (picture) data.

       2.f. An "audio" Content-Type value, for transmitting audio or
            voice data.





 
RFC 1521                          MIME                    September 1993


       2.g. A "video" Content-Type value, for transmitting video or
            moving image data, possibly with audio as part of the
            composite video data format.

   3. A Content-Transfer-Encoding header field, which can be used to
       specify an auxiliary encoding that was applied to the data in
       order to allow it to pass through mail transport mechanisms which
       may have data or character set limitations.

   4. Two additional header fields that can be used to further describe
       the data in a message body, the Content-ID and Content-
       Description header fields.

   MIME has been carefully designed as an extensible mechanism, and it
   is expected that the set of content-type/subtype pairs and their
   associated parameters will grow significantly with time.  Several
   other MIME fields, notably including character set names, are likely
   to have new values defined over time.  In order to ensure that the
   set of such values is developed in an orderly, well-specified, and
   public manner, MIME defines a registration process which uses the
   Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) as a central registry for
   such values.  Appendix E provides details about how IANA registration
   is accomplished.

   Finally, to specify and promote interoperability, Appendix A of this
   document provides a basic applicability statement for a subset of the
   above mechanisms that defines a minimal level of "conformance" with
   this document.

      HISTORICAL NOTE: Several of the mechanisms described in this
      document may seem somewhat strange or even baroque at first
      reading.  It is important to note that compatibility with existing
      standards AND robustness across existing practice were two of the
      highest priorities of the working group that developed this
      document.  In particular, compatibility was always favored over
      elegance.

   MIME was first defined and published as RFCs 1341 and 1342 [RFC-1341]
   [RFC-1342].  This document is a relatively minor updating of RFC
   1341, and is intended to supersede it.  The differences between this
   document and RFC 1341 are summarized in Appendix H.  Please refer to
   the current edition of the "IAB Official Protocol Standards" for the
   standardization state and status of this protocol.  Several other RFC
   documents will be of interest to the MIME implementor, in particular
   [RFC 1343], [RFC-1344], and [RFC-1345].







 
RFC 1521                          MIME                    September 1993


2.    Notations, Conventions, and Generic BNF Grammar

   This document is being published in two versions, one as plain ASCII
   text and one as PostScript (PostScript is a trademark of Adobe
   Systems Incorporated.).  While the text version is the official
   specification, some will find the PostScript version easier to read.
   The textual contents are identical.  An Andrew-format copy of this
   document is also available from the first author (Borenstein).

   Although the mechanisms specified in this document are all described
   in prose, most are also described formally in the modified BNF
   notation of RFC 822.  Implementors will need to be familiar with this
   notation in order to understand this specification, and are referred
   to RFC 822 for a complete explanation of the modified BNF notation.