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audio/mpeg

audio/mpeg MIME Type — MP3 Audio Streaming & Content-Type Guide

MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer III (MP3). The most widely-supported lossy audio format. Despite being decades old, MP3 remains the universal baseline for audio delivery on the web and in media players.

Type
audio
Compressible
No (pre-compressed)
Extensions
.mp3

Used For

  • Podcast files
  • Music streaming
  • Audio players (<audio> element)
  • Voice recordings

HTTP Header Example

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: audio/mpeg
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Cache-Control: public, max-age=3600

Code Examples

// HTML audio element
<audio controls>
  <source src="/song.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" />
  <source src="/song.ogg" type="audio/ogg" />
</audio>

// Express — serve with range support for seek
app.get('/audio/:file', (req, res) => {
  res
    .set('Content-Type', 'audio/mpeg')
    .set('Accept-Ranges', 'bytes')
    .sendFile(req.params.file, { root: './audio' })
})

All MIME Types

Browse the complete MIME type reference.

View All MIME Types

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the audio/mpeg MIME type?

MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer III (MP3). The most widely-supported lossy audio format. Despite being decades old, MP3 remains the universal baseline for audio delivery on the web and in media players.

When should I set Content-Type: audio/mpeg?

Set Content-Type: audio/mpeg on HTTP responses that contain MP3 Audio data. Podcast files.

What file extensions use audio/mpeg?

Files with audio/mpeg content typically use these extensions: .mp3.

What happens if I serve this with the wrong Content-Type?

Browsers use the Content-Type header to decide how to handle the response. Serving audio/mpeg content with an incorrect MIME type can cause browsers to display it incorrectly, refuse to execute it (scripts), or prompt an unintended download. Modern browsers respect X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff and will not attempt to auto-detect the type.