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MIME
A MIME type (short for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) is a identifier for file formats and contents on the internet.
Usage
Setting applications for MIME types
In ~/.config/mimeapps.list a list of applications to run specific MIME
types can be found.
An example file looks like the following:
[Default Applications]
text/x-shellscript=text.desktop;
x-scheme-handler/magnet=torrent.desktop;
application/x-bittorrent=torrent.desktop;
x-scheme-handler/mailto=mail.desktop;
text/plain=text.desktop;
application/postscript=pdf.desktop;
application/pdf=pdf.desktop;
image/png=img.desktop;
image/jpeg=img.desktop;
image/gif=img.desktop;
application/rss+xml=rss.desktop
video/x-matroska=video.desktop
inode/directory=file.desktop
A line consists of a MIME type left of the equals sign and an application on
the right of it.
The application can be found in ~/.local/share/applications/.
In this directory a file for every application on the right side of the equals
sign with the same title can be found.
A simple application file looks like the following example of img.desktop:
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Image viewer
Exec=/usr/bin/sxiv -a %f
Atleast Type, Name and Exec have to be specified for a minimal
application file.
Getting MIME type of a file
The MIME type of a file can be returned by running
xdg-mime query filetype <file> or file -b --mime-type image.png.
The MIME type can be then used to set default applications as explained in
the section regarding setting applications for MIME types.