Setting mime type for excel document

384
votes

MS Excel has the following observed MIME types:

  • application/vnd.ms-excel (official)
  • application/msexcel
  • application/x-msexcel
  • application/x-ms-excel
  • application/x-excel
  • application/x-dos_ms_excel
  • application/xls
  • application/x-xls
  • application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet (xlsx)

Is there any one type that would work for all versions? If not, do we need to set response.setContentType() with each one of these mime types individually?

Also, we use file streaming in our application to display document (not just excel - any type of document). In doing so, how can we retain the filename if the user opts to save the file - currently, the name of the servlet that renders the file appears as the default name.

7
excelcontent-typemime
More generally, the best way to find out what MS themselves think is the correct type is to find a box with the latest version installed and look at HKCR/.xls 's Content Type value in the registry. – Rup
"application/vnd.ms-office" is another mime type for XLS files. – herrjeh42
application/vnd-xls also works for .xls files. – mbomb007
Please refer to this post for complete list of MIME types and related excel file extensions. – RBT
The standard excel MIME type is:- application/vnd.ms-excel – Raksha Saini

7 Answers

362
votes

I believe the standard MIME type for Excel files is application/vnd.ms-excel.

Regarding the name of the document, you should set the following header in the response:

header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="name_of_excel_file.xls"');
186
votes

Waking up an old thread here I see, but I felt the urge to add the "new" .xlsx format.

According to http://filext.com/file-extension/XLSX the extension for .xlsx is application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet. It might be a good idea to include it when checking for mime types!

50
votes

You should always use below MIME type if you want to serve excel file in xlsx format

application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
26
votes

For .xls use the following content-type

application/vnd.ms-excel

For Excel 2007 version and above .xlsx files format

application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
8
votes

I was setting MIME type from .NET code as below -

File(generatedFileName, "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet")

My application generates excel using OpenXML SDK. This MIME type worked -

vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
2
votes

I am using EPPlus to generate .xlsx (OpenXML format based) excel file. For sending this excel file as attachment in email I use the following MIME type and it works fine with EPPlus generated file and opens properly in ms-outlook mail client preview.

string mimeType = "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet";
System.Net.Mime.ContentType contentType = null;
if (mimeType?.Length > 0)
{
    contentType = new System.Net.Mime.ContentType(mimeType);
}
0
votes

For anyone who is still stumbling with this after using all of the possible MIME types listed in the question:

I have found that iMacs tend to also throw a MIME type of "text/xls" for XLS Excel files, hope this helps.