What Is This?
The application/zip MIME type indicates that the content is a ZIP archive. ZIP is a widely used compression and archival format that bundles multiple files into a single compressed container. It supports lossless compression, encryption, and multi-volume archives.
Common Uses
Common Use
Software downloads and installers
Common Use
Bundling multiple files for download
Common Use
Source code distribution
Common Use
Backup file archives
Examples
Serve files with the application/zip MIME type:
# Nginx
location ~ \.zip$ {
add_header Content-Type "application/zip";
}
# Apache
AddType application/zip .zipUse this MIME type in HTML or HTTP:
Content-Type: application/zip <!-- HTML reference --> <link rel="preload" href="file.zip" as="fetch" crossorigin>
Related Entries
More from this reference:
application/json
The standard MIME type for JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) data interchange.
application/pdf
The MIME type for PDF (Portable Document Format) documents.
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.
application/x-www-form-urlencoded
The MIME type for URL-encoded form data submissions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I use application/zip or application/x-zip-compressed?
Use application/zip, which is the official registered MIME type. application/x-zip-compressed is an older, non-standard alias that some systems still use for backward compatibility.
Can I serve large ZIP files efficiently?
Yes. For large files, ensure your server supports range requests (Accept-Ranges header) for resumable downloads. Consider using Content-Encoding: gzip on top of ZIP is redundant and wastes CPU.