I want excel files on a website to open in Excel when clicked, not get saved on desktop, or get opened embedded in a browser etc. Now obviously it all depends on how everything is configured for each user, but what’s the best Content-Type and other settings to achieve just that most of the time?
asked May 30, 2010 at 3:54
2
For BIFF .xls files
application/vnd.ms-excel
For Excel2007 and above .xlsx files
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
answered May 30, 2010 at 10:15
Mark BakerMark Baker
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answered May 30, 2010 at 3:57
mikumiku
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Do keep in mind that the file.getContentType could also output application/octet-stream instead of the required application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet when you try to upload the file that is already open.
CSchulz
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answered Feb 26, 2014 at 20:43
DiTapDiTap
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This article describes MIME Types and the corresponding file extension of the Microsoft Office documents. It will very be useful for document analysis, and you can easily define ContentType for the Microsoft Office associated documents in ASP.NET applications. Also you can use this details to customize MIME types in IIS server configuration.
For Microsoft Office Excel, you can define content type like this example.
Aspx page
<%response.ContentType=“application/vnd.ms-excel”%>
C#
Response.ContentType = “application/vnd.ms-excel”;
The following table lists the MIME types and file extensions that are associated with the Microsoft Office documents.
| Extension | MIME Type |
| .doc | application/msword |
| .dot | application/msword |
| .docx | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| .dotx | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.template |
| .docm | application/vnd.ms-word.document.macroEnabled.12 |
| .dotm | application/vnd.ms-word.template.macroEnabled.12 |
| .xls | application/vnd.ms-excel |
| .xlt | application/vnd.ms-excel |
| .xla | application/vnd.ms-excel |
| .xlsx | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet |
| .xltx | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.template |
| .xlsm | application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.macroEnabled.12 |
| .xltm | application/vnd.ms-excel.template.macroEnabled.12 |
| .xlam | application/vnd.ms-excel.addin.macroEnabled.12 |
| .xlsb | application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.binary.macroEnabled.12 |
| .ppt | application/vnd.ms-powerpoint |
| .pot | application/vnd.ms-powerpoint |
| .pps | application/vnd.ms-powerpoint |
| .ppa | application/vnd.ms-powerpoint |
| .pptx | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation |
| .potx | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.template |
| .ppsx | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.slideshow |
| .ppam | application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.addin.macroEnabled.12 |
| .pptm | application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.presentation.macroEnabled.12 |
| .potm | application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.template.macroEnabled.12 |
| .ppsm | application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.slideshow.macroEnabled.12 |
Thanks,
Morgan
Software Developer
This topic lists the most common MIME types with corresponding document types, ordered by their common extensions.
The following two important MIME types are the default types:
text/plainis the default value for textual files. A textual file should be human-readable and must not contain binary data.application/octet-streamis the default value for all other cases. An unknown file type should use this type. Browsers are particularly careful when manipulating these files to protect users from software vulnerabilities and possible dangerous behavior.
IANA is the official registry of MIME media types and maintains a list of all the official MIME types. This table lists important MIME types for the Web:
| Extension | Kind of document | MIME Type |
|---|---|---|
.aac |
AAC audio | audio/aac |
.abw |
AbiWord document | application/x-abiword |
.arc |
Archive document (multiple files embedded) | application/x-freearc |
.avif |
AVIF image | image/avif |
.avi |
AVI: Audio Video Interleave | video/x-msvideo |
.azw |
Amazon Kindle eBook format | application/vnd.amazon.ebook |
.bin |
Any kind of binary data | application/octet-stream |
.bmp |
Windows OS/2 Bitmap Graphics | image/bmp |
.bz |
BZip archive | application/x-bzip |
.bz2 |
BZip2 archive | application/x-bzip2 |
.cda |
CD audio | application/x-cdf |
.csh |
C-Shell script | application/x-csh |
.css |
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) | text/css |
.csv |
Comma-separated values (CSV) | text/csv |
.doc |
Microsoft Word | application/msword |
.docx |
Microsoft Word (OpenXML) | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
.eot |
MS Embedded OpenType fonts | application/vnd.ms-fontobject |
.epub |
Electronic publication (EPUB) | application/epub+zip |
.gz |
GZip Compressed Archive | application/gzip |
.gif |
Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) | image/gif |
.htm, .html |
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) | text/html |
.ico |
Icon format | image/vnd.microsoft.icon |
.ics |
iCalendar format | text/calendar |
.jar |
Java Archive (JAR) | application/java-archive |
.jpeg, .jpg |
JPEG images | image/jpeg |
.js |
JavaScript | text/javascript (Specifications: HTML and RFC 9239) |
.json |
JSON format | application/json |
.jsonld |
JSON-LD format | application/ld+json |
.mid, .midi |
Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) | audio/midi, audio/x-midi |
.mjs |
JavaScript module | text/javascript |
.mp3 |
MP3 audio | audio/mpeg |
.mp4 |
MP4 video | video/mp4 |
.mpeg |
MPEG Video | video/mpeg |
.mpkg |
Apple Installer Package | application/vnd.apple.installer+xml |
.odp |
OpenDocument presentation document | application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.presentation |
.ods |
OpenDocument spreadsheet document | application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.spreadsheet |
.odt |
OpenDocument text document | application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text |
.oga |
OGG audio | audio/ogg |
.ogv |
OGG video | video/ogg |
.ogx |
OGG | application/ogg |
.opus |
Opus audio | audio/opus |
.otf |
OpenType font | font/otf |
.png |
Portable Network Graphics | image/png |
.pdf |
Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) | application/pdf |
.php |
Hypertext Preprocessor (Personal Home Page) | application/x-httpd-php |
.ppt |
Microsoft PowerPoint | application/vnd.ms-powerpoint |
.pptx |
Microsoft PowerPoint (OpenXML) | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation |
.rar |
RAR archive | application/vnd.rar |
.rtf |
Rich Text Format (RTF) | application/rtf |
.sh |
Bourne shell script | application/x-sh |
.svg |
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) | image/svg+xml |
.tar |
Tape Archive (TAR) | application/x-tar |
.tif, .tiff |
Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) | image/tiff |
.ts |
MPEG transport stream | video/mp2t |
.ttf |
TrueType Font | font/ttf |
.txt |
Text, (generally ASCII or ISO 8859-n) | text/plain |
.vsd |
Microsoft Visio | application/vnd.visio |
.wav |
Waveform Audio Format | audio/wav |
.weba |
WEBM audio | audio/webm |
.webm |
WEBM video | video/webm |
.webp |
WEBP image | image/webp |
.woff |
Web Open Font Format (WOFF) | font/woff |
.woff2 |
Web Open Font Format (WOFF) | font/woff2 |
.xhtml |
XHTML | application/xhtml+xml |
.xls |
Microsoft Excel | application/vnd.ms-excel |
.xlsx |
Microsoft Excel (OpenXML) | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet |
.xml |
XML | application/xml is recommended as of RFC 7303 (section 4.1), but text/xml is still used sometimes. You can assign a specific MIME type to a file with .xml extension depending on how its contents are meant to be interpreted. For instance, an Atom feed is application/atom+xml, but application/xml serves as a valid default. |
.xul |
XUL | application/vnd.mozilla.xul+xml |
.zip |
ZIP archive | application/zip |
.3gp |
3GPP audio/video container | video/3gpp; audio/3gpp if it doesn’t contain video |
.3g2 |
3GPP2 audio/video container | video/3gpp2; audio/3gpp2 if it doesn’t contain video |
.7z |
7-zip archive | application/x-7z-compressed |
The content type for .xlsx files is:
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
Or use this:
Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel"; Response.AppendHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=myfile.xls");
For Excel 2007 and above the MIME type differs
Response.ContentType = "application/application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet"; Response.AppendHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=myfile.xlsx");
Or if you are trying to read the file then try this:
DataSet objds = new DataSet(); string ConnStr = ""; if (FileExtension == ".xlsx") { ConnStr = "Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source=" + FileName + ";Extended Properties="Excel 12.0 Xml;HDR=No;IMEX=1";"; } else { ConnStr = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" + FileName + ";Extended Properties="Excel 8.0;HDR=No;IMEX=1";"; } OleDbCommand selectCommand = new OleDbCommand(); OleDbConnection connection = new OleDbConnection(); OleDbDataAdapter adapter = new OleDbDataAdapter(); connection.ConnectionString = ConnStr; string strSQL = "SELECT * FROM [Sheet1$]"; if (connection.State != ConnectionState.Open) connection.Open(); OleDbCommand cmd = new OleDbCommand(strSQL, connection); OleDbDataAdapter da = new OleDbDataAdapter(cmd); da.Fill(objds); connection.Close();
All the best.
—Amit