What Is This?
The application/pdf MIME type indicates that the content is a PDF (Portable Document Format) document. PDF is a file format developed by Adobe for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems.
Common Uses
Downloadable documents, reports, and forms
Resumes and CVs
E-books and technical manuals
Printable invoices and receipts
Examples
Supported by all browsers. Most modern browsers have built-in PDF viewers.
The .pdf file extension maps to application/pdf as its MIME type.
Related Entries
More from this reference:
application/json
The standard MIME type for JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) data interchange.
application/zip
The MIME type for ZIP archive files used for compression and bundling.
application/xml
The MIME type for XML documents and data interchange.
application/octet-stream
The generic MIME type for arbitrary binary data, often used for unknown file types or forced downloads.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should PDFs open in the browser or download?
Set Content-Disposition: inline to display PDFs in the browser. Set Content-Disposition: attachment to force download. The default behavior varies by browser.
Can I serve PDF with Content-Disposition for security?
Content-Disposition is a hint, not a security measure. For actual access control, use authentication and authorization checks on the server side before serving PDF files.