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mime-p2-rfc2046.txt (105854B)


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      7 Network Working Group                                          N. Freed
      8 Request for Comments: 2046                                     Innosoft
      9 Obsoletes: 1521, 1522, 1590                               N. Borenstein
     10 Category: Standards Track                                 First Virtual
     11                                                           November 1996
     12 
     13 
     14                  Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
     15                             (MIME) Part Two:
     16                               Media Types
     17 
     18 Status of this Memo
     19 
     20    This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
     21    Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
     22    improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
     23    Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
     24    and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
     25 
     26 Abstract
     27 
     28    STD 11, RFC 822 defines a message representation protocol specifying
     29    considerable detail about US-ASCII message headers, but which leaves
     30    the message content, or message body, as flat US-ASCII text.  This
     31    set of documents, collectively called the Multipurpose Internet Mail
     32    Extensions, or MIME, redefines the format of messages to allow for
     33 
     34     (1)   textual message bodies in character sets other than
     35           US-ASCII,
     36 
     37     (2)   an extensible set of different formats for non-textual
     38           message bodies,
     39 
     40     (3)   multi-part message bodies, and
     41 
     42     (4)   textual header information in character sets other than
     43           US-ASCII.
     44 
     45    These documents are based on earlier work documented in RFC 934, STD
     46    11, and RFC 1049, but extends and revises them.  Because RFC 822 said
     47    so little about message bodies, these documents are largely
     48    orthogonal to (rather than a revision of) RFC 822.
     49 
     50    The initial document in this set, RFC 2045, specifies the various
     51    headers used to describe the structure of MIME messages. This second
     52    document defines the general structure of the MIME media typing
     53    system and defines an initial set of media types. The third document,
     54    RFC 2047, describes extensions to RFC 822 to allow non-US-ASCII text
     55 
     56 
     57 
     58 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                     [Page 1]
     59 
     60 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
     61 
     62 
     63    data in Internet mail header fields. The fourth document, RFC 2048,
     64    specifies various IANA registration procedures for MIME-related
     65    facilities.  The fifth and final document, RFC 2049, describes MIME
     66    conformance criteria as well as providing some illustrative examples
     67    of MIME message formats, acknowledgements, and the bibliography.
     68 
     69    These documents are revisions of RFCs 1521 and 1522, which themselves
     70    were revisions of RFCs 1341 and 1342.  An appendix in RFC 2049
     71    describes differences and changes from previous versions.
     72 
     73 Table of Contents
     74 
     75    1. Introduction .........................................    3
     76    2. Definition of a Top-Level Media Type .................    4
     77    3. Overview Of The Initial Top-Level Media Types ........    4
     78    4. Discrete Media Type Values ...........................    6
     79    4.1 Text Media Type .....................................    6
     80    4.1.1 Representation of Line Breaks .....................    7
     81    4.1.2 Charset Parameter .................................    7
     82    4.1.3 Plain Subtype .....................................   11
     83    4.1.4 Unrecognized Subtypes .............................   11
     84    4.2 Image Media Type ....................................   11
     85    4.3 Audio Media Type ....................................   11
     86    4.4 Video Media Type ....................................   12
     87    4.5 Application Media Type ..............................   12
     88    4.5.1 Octet-Stream Subtype ..............................   13
     89    4.5.2 PostScript Subtype ................................   14
     90    4.5.3 Other Application Subtypes ........................   17
     91    5. Composite Media Type Values ..........................   17
     92    5.1 Multipart Media Type ................................   17
     93    5.1.1 Common Syntax .....................................   19
     94    5.1.2 Handling Nested Messages and Multiparts ...........   24
     95    5.1.3 Mixed Subtype .....................................   24
     96    5.1.4 Alternative Subtype ...............................   24
     97    5.1.5 Digest Subtype ....................................   26
     98    5.1.6 Parallel Subtype ..................................   27
     99    5.1.7 Other Multipart Subtypes ..........................   28
    100    5.2 Message Media Type ..................................   28
    101    5.2.1 RFC822 Subtype ....................................   28
    102    5.2.2 Partial Subtype ...................................   29
    103    5.2.2.1 Message Fragmentation and Reassembly ............   30
    104    5.2.2.2 Fragmentation and Reassembly Example ............   31
    105    5.2.3 External-Body Subtype .............................   33
    106    5.2.4 Other Message Subtypes ............................   40
    107    6. Experimental Media Type Values .......................   40
    108    7. Summary ..............................................   41
    109    8. Security Considerations ..............................   41
    110    9. Authors' Addresses ...................................   42
    111 
    112 
    113 
    114 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                     [Page 2]
    115 
    116 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
    117 
    118 
    119    A. Collected Grammar ....................................   43
    120 
    121 1.  Introduction
    122 
    123    The first document in this set, RFC 2045, defines a number of header
    124    fields, including Content-Type. The Content-Type field is used to
    125    specify the nature of the data in the body of a MIME entity, by
    126    giving media type and subtype identifiers, and by providing auxiliary
    127    information that may be required for certain media types.  After the
    128    type and subtype names, the remainder of the header field is simply a
    129    set of parameters, specified in an attribute/value notation.  The
    130    ordering of parameters is not significant.
    131 
    132    In general, the top-level media type is used to declare the general
    133    type of data, while the subtype specifies a specific format for that
    134    type of data.  Thus, a media type of "image/xyz" is enough to tell a
    135    user agent that the data is an image, even if the user agent has no
    136    knowledge of the specific image format "xyz".  Such information can
    137    be used, for example, to decide whether or not to show a user the raw
    138    data from an unrecognized subtype -- such an action might be
    139    reasonable for unrecognized subtypes of "text", but not for
    140    unrecognized subtypes of "image" or "audio".  For this reason,
    141    registered subtypes of "text", "image", "audio", and "video" should
    142    not contain embedded information that is really of a different type.
    143    Such compound formats should be represented using the "multipart" or
    144    "application" types.
    145 
    146    Parameters are modifiers of the media subtype, and as such do not
    147    fundamentally affect the nature of the content.  The set of
    148    meaningful parameters depends on the media type and subtype.  Most
    149    parameters are associated with a single specific subtype.  However, a
    150    given top-level media type may define parameters which are applicable
    151    to any subtype of that type.  Parameters may be required by their
    152    defining media type or subtype or they may be optional.  MIME
    153    implementations must also ignore any parameters whose names they do
    154    not recognize.
    155 
    156    MIME's Content-Type header field and media type mechanism has been
    157    carefully designed to be extensible, and it is expected that the set
    158    of media type/subtype pairs and their associated parameters will grow
    159    significantly over time.  Several other MIME facilities, such as
    160    transfer encodings and "message/external-body" access types, are
    161    likely to have new values defined over time.  In order to ensure that
    162    the set of such values is developed in an orderly, well-specified,
    163    and public manner, MIME sets up a registration process which uses the
    164    Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) as a central registry for
    165    MIME's various areas of extensibility.  The registration process for
    166    these areas is described in a companion document, RFC 2048.
    167 
    168 
    169 
    170 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                     [Page 3]
    171 
    172 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
    173 
    174 
    175    The initial seven standard top-level media type are defined and
    176    described in the remainder of this document.
    177 
    178 2.  Definition of a Top-Level Media Type
    179 
    180    The definition of a top-level media type consists of:
    181 
    182     (1)   a name and a description of the type, including
    183           criteria for whether a particular type would qualify
    184           under that type,
    185 
    186     (2)   the names and definitions of parameters, if any, which
    187           are defined for all subtypes of that type (including
    188           whether such parameters are required or optional),
    189 
    190     (3)   how a user agent and/or gateway should handle unknown
    191           subtypes of this type,
    192 
    193     (4)   general considerations on gatewaying entities of this
    194           top-level type, if any, and
    195 
    196     (5)   any restrictions on content-transfer-encodings for
    197           entities of this top-level type.
    198 
    199 3.  Overview Of The Initial Top-Level Media Types
    200 
    201    The five discrete top-level media types are:
    202 
    203     (1)   text -- textual information.  The subtype "plain" in
    204           particular indicates plain text containing no
    205           formatting commands or directives of any sort. Plain
    206           text is intended to be displayed "as-is". No special
    207           software is required to get the full meaning of the
    208           text, aside from support for the indicated character
    209           set. Other subtypes are to be used for enriched text in
    210           forms where application software may enhance the
    211           appearance of the text, but such software must not be
    212           required in order to get the general idea of the
    213           content.  Possible subtypes of "text" thus include any
    214           word processor format that can be read without
    215           resorting to software that understands the format.  In
    216           particular, formats that employ embeddded binary
    217           formatting information are not considered directly
    218           readable. A very simple and portable subtype,
    219           "richtext", was defined in RFC 1341, with a further
    220           revision in RFC 1896 under the name "enriched".
    221 
    222 
    223 
    224 
    225 
    226 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                     [Page 4]
    227 
    228 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
    229 
    230 
    231     (2)   image -- image data.  "Image" requires a display device
    232           (such as a graphical display, a graphics printer, or a
    233           FAX machine) to view the information. An initial
    234           subtype is defined for the widely-used image format
    235           JPEG. .  subtypes are defined for two widely-used image
    236           formats, jpeg and gif.
    237 
    238     (3)   audio -- audio data.  "Audio" requires an audio output
    239           device (such as a speaker or a telephone) to "display"
    240           the contents.  An initial subtype "basic" is defined in
    241           this document.
    242 
    243     (4)   video -- video data.  "Video" requires the capability
    244           to display moving images, typically including
    245           specialized hardware and software.  An initial subtype
    246           "mpeg" is defined in this document.
    247 
    248     (5)   application -- some other kind of data, typically
    249           either uninterpreted binary data or information to be
    250           processed by an application.  The subtype "octet-
    251           stream" is to be used in the case of uninterpreted
    252           binary data, in which case the simplest recommended
    253           action is to offer to write the information into a file
    254           for the user.  The "PostScript" subtype is also defined
    255           for the transport of PostScript material.  Other
    256           expected uses for "application" include spreadsheets,
    257           data for mail-based scheduling systems, and languages
    258           for "active" (computational) messaging, and word
    259           processing formats that are not directly readable.
    260           Note that security considerations may exist for some
    261           types of application data, most notably
    262           "application/PostScript" and any form of active
    263           messaging.  These issues are discussed later in this
    264           document.
    265 
    266    The two composite top-level media types are:
    267 
    268     (1)   multipart -- data consisting of multiple entities of
    269           independent data types.  Four subtypes are initially
    270           defined, including the basic "mixed" subtype specifying
    271           a generic mixed set of parts, "alternative" for
    272           representing the same data in multiple formats,
    273           "parallel" for parts intended to be viewed
    274           simultaneously, and "digest" for multipart entities in
    275           which each part has a default type of "message/rfc822".
    276 
    277 
    278 
    279 
    280 
    281 
    282 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                     [Page 5]
    283 
    284 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
    285 
    286 
    287     (2)   message -- an encapsulated message.  A body of media
    288           type "message" is itself all or a portion of some kind
    289           of message object.  Such objects may or may not in turn
    290           contain other entities.  The "rfc822" subtype is used
    291           when the encapsulated content is itself an RFC 822
    292           message.  The "partial" subtype is defined for partial
    293           RFC 822 messages, to permit the fragmented transmission
    294           of bodies that are thought to be too large to be passed
    295           through transport facilities in one piece.  Another
    296           subtype, "external-body", is defined for specifying
    297           large bodies by reference to an external data source.
    298 
    299    It should be noted that the list of media type values given here may
    300    be augmented in time, via the mechanisms described above, and that
    301    the set of subtypes is expected to grow substantially.
    302 
    303 4.  Discrete Media Type Values
    304 
    305    Five of the seven initial media type values refer to discrete bodies.
    306    The content of these types must be handled by non-MIME mechanisms;
    307    they are opaque to MIME processors.
    308 
    309 4.1.  Text Media Type
    310 
    311    The "text" media type is intended for sending material which is
    312    principally textual in form.  A "charset" parameter may be used to
    313    indicate the character set of the body text for "text" subtypes,
    314    notably including the subtype "text/plain", which is a generic
    315    subtype for plain text.  Plain text does not provide for or allow
    316    formatting commands, font attribute specifications, processing
    317    instructions, interpretation directives, or content markup.  Plain
    318    text is seen simply as a linear sequence of characters, possibly
    319    interrupted by line breaks or page breaks.  Plain text may allow the
    320    stacking of several characters in the same position in the text.
    321    Plain text in scripts like Arabic and Hebrew may also include
    322    facilitites that allow the arbitrary mixing of text segments with
    323    opposite writing directions.
    324 
    325    Beyond plain text, there are many formats for representing what might
    326    be known as "rich text".  An interesting characteristic of many such
    327    representations is that they are to some extent readable even without
    328    the software that interprets them.  It is useful, then, to
    329    distinguish them, at the highest level, from such unreadable data as
    330    images, audio, or text represented in an unreadable form. In the
    331    absence of appropriate interpretation software, it is reasonable to
    332    show subtypes of "text" to the user, while it is not reasonable to do
    333    so with most nontextual data. Such formatted textual data should be
    334    represented using subtypes of "text".
    335 
    336 
    337 
    338 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                     [Page 6]
    339 
    340 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
    341 
    342 
    343 4.1.1.  Representation of Line Breaks
    344 
    345    The canonical form of any MIME "text" subtype MUST always represent a
    346    line break as a CRLF sequence.  Similarly, any occurrence of CRLF in
    347    MIME "text" MUST represent a line break.  Use of CR and LF outside of
    348    line break sequences is also forbidden.
    349 
    350    This rule applies regardless of format or character set or sets
    351    involved.
    352 
    353    NOTE: The proper interpretation of line breaks when a body is
    354    displayed depends on the media type. In particular, while it is
    355    appropriate to treat a line break as a transition to a new line when
    356    displaying a "text/plain" body, this treatment is actually incorrect
    357    for other subtypes of "text" like "text/enriched" [RFC-1896].
    358    Similarly, whether or not line breaks should be added during display
    359    operations is also a function of the media type. It should not be
    360    necessary to add any line breaks to display "text/plain" correctly,
    361    whereas proper display of "text/enriched" requires the appropriate
    362    addition of line breaks.
    363 
    364    NOTE: Some protocols defines a maximum line length.  E.g. SMTP [RFC-
    365    821] allows a maximum of 998 octets before the next CRLF sequence.
    366    To be transported by such protocols, data which includes too long
    367    segments without CRLF sequences must be encoded with a suitable
    368    content-transfer-encoding.
    369 
    370 4.1.2.  Charset Parameter
    371 
    372    A critical parameter that may be specified in the Content-Type field
    373    for "text/plain" data is the character set.  This is specified with a
    374    "charset" parameter, as in:
    375 
    376      Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
    377 
    378    Unlike some other parameter values, the values of the charset
    379    parameter are NOT case sensitive.  The default character set, which
    380    must be assumed in the absence of a charset parameter, is US-ASCII.
    381 
    382    The specification for any future subtypes of "text" must specify
    383    whether or not they will also utilize a "charset" parameter, and may
    384    possibly restrict its values as well.  For other subtypes of "text"
    385    than "text/plain", the semantics of the "charset" parameter should be
    386    defined to be identical to those specified here for "text/plain",
    387    i.e., the body consists entirely of characters in the given charset.
    388    In particular, definers of future "text" subtypes should pay close
    389    attention to the implications of multioctet character sets for their
    390    subtype definitions.
    391 
    392 
    393 
    394 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                     [Page 7]
    395 
    396 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
    397 
    398 
    399    The charset parameter for subtypes of "text" gives a name of a
    400    character set, as "character set" is defined in RFC 2045.  The rules
    401    regarding line breaks detailed in the previous section must also be
    402    observed -- a character set whose definition does not conform to
    403    these rules cannot be used in a MIME "text" subtype.
    404 
    405    An initial list of predefined character set names can be found at the
    406    end of this section.  Additional character sets may be registered
    407    with IANA.
    408 
    409    Other media types than subtypes of "text" might choose to employ the
    410    charset parameter as defined here, but with the CRLF/line break
    411    restriction removed.  Therefore, all character sets that conform to
    412    the general definition of "character set" in RFC 2045 can be
    413    registered for MIME use.
    414 
    415    Note that if the specified character set includes 8-bit characters
    416    and such characters are used in the body, a Content-Transfer-Encoding
    417    header field and a corresponding encoding on the data are required in
    418    order to transmit the body via some mail transfer protocols, such as
    419    SMTP [RFC-821].
    420 
    421    The default character set, US-ASCII, has been the subject of some
    422    confusion and ambiguity in the past.  Not only were there some
    423    ambiguities in the definition, there have been wide variations in
    424    practice.  In order to eliminate such ambiguity and variations in the
    425    future, it is strongly recommended that new user agents explicitly
    426    specify a character set as a media type parameter in the Content-Type
    427    header field. "US-ASCII" does not indicate an arbitrary 7-bit
    428    character set, but specifies that all octets in the body must be
    429    interpreted as characters according to the US-ASCII character set.
    430    National and application-oriented versions of ISO 646 [ISO-646] are
    431    usually NOT identical to US-ASCII, and in that case their use in
    432    Internet mail is explicitly discouraged.  The omission of the ISO 646
    433    character set from this document is deliberate in this regard.  The
    434    character set name of "US-ASCII" explicitly refers to the character
    435    set defined in ANSI X3.4-1986 [US- ASCII].  The new international
    436    reference version (IRV) of the 1991 edition of ISO 646 is identical
    437    to US-ASCII.  The character set name "ASCII" is reserved and must not
    438    be used for any purpose.
    439 
    440    NOTE: RFC 821 explicitly specifies "ASCII", and references an earlier
    441    version of the American Standard.  Insofar as one of the purposes of
    442    specifying a media type and character set is to permit the receiver
    443    to unambiguously determine how the sender intended the coded message
    444    to be interpreted, assuming anything other than "strict ASCII" as the
    445    default would risk unintentional and incompatible changes to the
    446    semantics of messages now being transmitted.  This also implies that
    447 
    448 
    449 
    450 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                     [Page 8]
    451 
    452 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
    453 
    454 
    455    messages containing characters coded according to other versions of
    456    ISO 646 than US-ASCII and the 1991 IRV, or using code-switching
    457    procedures (e.g., those of ISO 2022), as well as 8bit or multiple
    458    octet character encodings MUST use an appropriate character set
    459    specification to be consistent with MIME.
    460 
    461    The complete US-ASCII character set is listed in ANSI X3.4- 1986.
    462    Note that the control characters including DEL (0-31, 127) have no
    463    defined meaning in apart from the combination CRLF (US-ASCII values
    464    13 and 10) indicating a new line.  Two of the characters have de
    465    facto meanings in wide use: FF (12) often means "start subsequent
    466    text on the beginning of a new page"; and TAB or HT (9) often (though
    467    not always) means "move the cursor to the next available column after
    468    the current position where the column number is a multiple of 8
    469    (counting the first column as column 0)."  Aside from these
    470    conventions, any use of the control characters or DEL in a body must
    471    either occur
    472 
    473     (1)   because a subtype of text other than "plain"
    474           specifically assigns some additional meaning, or
    475 
    476     (2)   within the context of a private agreement between the
    477           sender and recipient. Such private agreements are
    478           discouraged and should be replaced by the other
    479           capabilities of this document.
    480 
    481    NOTE: An enormous proliferation of character sets exist beyond US-
    482    ASCII.  A large number of partially or totally overlapping character
    483    sets is NOT a good thing.  A SINGLE character set that can be used
    484    universally for representing all of the world's languages in Internet
    485    mail would be preferrable.  Unfortunately, existing practice in
    486    several communities seems to point to the continued use of multiple
    487    character sets in the near future.  A small number of standard
    488    character sets are, therefore, defined for Internet use in this
    489    document.
    490 
    491    The defined charset values are:
    492 
    493     (1)   US-ASCII -- as defined in ANSI X3.4-1986 [US-ASCII].
    494 
    495     (2)   ISO-8859-X -- where "X" is to be replaced, as
    496           necessary, for the parts of ISO-8859 [ISO-8859].  Note
    497           that the ISO 646 character sets have deliberately been
    498           omitted in favor of their 8859 replacements, which are
    499           the designated character sets for Internet mail.  As of
    500           the publication of this document, the legitimate values
    501           for "X" are the digits 1 through 10.
    502 
    503 
    504 
    505 
    506 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                     [Page 9]
    507 
    508 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
    509 
    510 
    511    Characters in the range 128-159 has no assigned meaning in ISO-8859-
    512    X.  Characters with values below 128 in ISO-8859-X have the same
    513    assigned meaning as they do in US-ASCII.
    514 
    515    Part 6 of ISO 8859 (Latin/Arabic alphabet) and part 8 (Latin/Hebrew
    516    alphabet) includes both characters for which the normal writing
    517    direction is right to left and characters for which it is left to
    518    right, but do not define a canonical ordering method for representing
    519    bi-directional text.  The charset values "ISO-8859-6" and "ISO-8859-
    520    8", however, specify that the visual method is used [RFC-1556].
    521 
    522    All of these character sets are used as pure 7bit or 8bit sets
    523    without any shift or escape functions.  The meaning of shift and
    524    escape sequences in these character sets is not defined.
    525 
    526    The character sets specified above are the ones that were relatively
    527    uncontroversial during the drafting of MIME.  This document does not
    528    endorse the use of any particular character set other than US-ASCII,
    529    and recognizes that the future evolution of world character sets
    530    remains unclear.
    531 
    532    Note that the character set used, if anything other than US- ASCII,
    533    must always be explicitly specified in the Content-Type field.
    534 
    535    No character set name other than those defined above may be used in
    536    Internet mail without the publication of a formal specification and
    537    its registration with IANA, or by private agreement, in which case
    538    the character set name must begin with "X-".
    539 
    540    Implementors are discouraged from defining new character sets unless
    541    absolutely necessary.
    542 
    543    The "charset" parameter has been defined primarily for the purpose of
    544    textual data, and is described in this section for that reason.
    545    However, it is conceivable that non-textual data might also wish to
    546    specify a charset value for some purpose, in which case the same
    547    syntax and values should be used.
    548 
    549    In general, composition software should always use the "lowest common
    550    denominator" character set possible.  For example, if a body contains
    551    only US-ASCII characters, it SHOULD be marked as being in the US-
    552    ASCII character set, not ISO-8859-1, which, like all the ISO-8859
    553    family of character sets, is a superset of US-ASCII.  More generally,
    554    if a widely-used character set is a subset of another character set,
    555    and a body contains only characters in the widely-used subset, it
    556    should be labelled as being in that subset.  This will increase the
    557    chances that the recipient will be able to view the resulting entity
    558    correctly.
    559 
    560 
    561 
    562 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 10]
    563 
    564 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
    565 
    566 
    567 4.1.3.  Plain Subtype
    568 
    569    The simplest and most important subtype of "text" is "plain".  This
    570    indicates plain text that does not contain any formatting commands or
    571    directives. Plain text is intended to be displayed "as-is", that is,
    572    no interpretation of embedded formatting commands, font attribute
    573    specifications, processing instructions, interpretation directives,
    574    or content markup should be necessary for proper display.  The
    575    default media type of "text/plain; charset=us-ascii" for Internet
    576    mail describes existing Internet practice.  That is, it is the type
    577    of body defined by RFC 822.
    578 
    579    No other "text" subtype is defined by this document.
    580 
    581 4.1.4.  Unrecognized Subtypes
    582 
    583    Unrecognized subtypes of "text" should be treated as subtype "plain"
    584    as long as the MIME implementation knows how to handle the charset.
    585    Unrecognized subtypes which also specify an unrecognized charset
    586    should be treated as "application/octet- stream".
    587 
    588 4.2.  Image Media Type
    589 
    590    A media type of "image" indicates that the body contains an image.
    591    The subtype names the specific image format.  These names are not
    592    case sensitive. An initial subtype is "jpeg" for the JPEG format
    593    using JFIF encoding [JPEG].
    594 
    595    The list of "image" subtypes given here is neither exclusive nor
    596    exhaustive, and is expected to grow as more types are registered with
    597    IANA, as described in RFC 2048.
    598 
    599    Unrecognized subtypes of "image" should at a miniumum be treated as
    600    "application/octet-stream".  Implementations may optionally elect to
    601    pass subtypes of "image" that they do not specifically recognize to a
    602    secure and robust general-purpose image viewing application, if such
    603    an application is available.
    604 
    605    NOTE: Using of a generic-purpose image viewing application this way
    606    inherits the security problems of the most dangerous type supported
    607    by the application.
    608 
    609 4.3.  Audio Media Type
    610 
    611    A media type of "audio" indicates that the body contains audio data.
    612    Although there is not yet a consensus on an "ideal" audio format for
    613    use with computers, there is a pressing need for a format capable of
    614    providing interoperable behavior.
    615 
    616 
    617 
    618 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 11]
    619 
    620 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
    621 
    622 
    623    The initial subtype of "basic" is specified to meet this requirement
    624    by providing an absolutely minimal lowest common denominator audio
    625    format.  It is expected that richer formats for higher quality and/or
    626    lower bandwidth audio will be defined by a later document.
    627 
    628    The content of the "audio/basic" subtype is single channel audio
    629    encoded using 8bit ISDN mu-law [PCM] at a sample rate of 8000 Hz.
    630 
    631    Unrecognized subtypes of "audio" should at a miniumum be treated as
    632    "application/octet-stream".  Implementations may optionally elect to
    633    pass subtypes of "audio" that they do not specifically recognize to a
    634    robust general-purpose audio playing application, if such an
    635    application is available.
    636 
    637 4.4.  Video Media Type
    638 
    639    A media type of "video" indicates that the body contains a time-
    640    varying-picture image, possibly with color and coordinated sound.
    641    The term 'video' is used in its most generic sense, rather than with
    642    reference to any particular technology or format, and is not meant to
    643    preclude subtypes such as animated drawings encoded compactly.  The
    644    subtype "mpeg" refers to video coded according to the MPEG standard
    645    [MPEG].
    646 
    647    Note that although in general this document strongly discourages the
    648    mixing of multiple media in a single body, it is recognized that many
    649    so-called video formats include a representation for synchronized
    650    audio, and this is explicitly permitted for subtypes of "video".
    651 
    652    Unrecognized subtypes of "video" should at a minumum be treated as
    653    "application/octet-stream".  Implementations may optionally elect to
    654    pass subtypes of "video" that they do not specifically recognize to a
    655    robust general-purpose video display application, if such an
    656    application is available.
    657 
    658 4.5.  Application Media Type
    659 
    660    The "application" media type is to be used for discrete data which do
    661    not fit in any of the other categories, and particularly for data to
    662    be processed by some type of application program.  This is
    663    information which must be processed by an application before it is
    664    viewable or usable by a user.  Expected uses for the "application"
    665    media type include file transfer, spreadsheets, data for mail-based
    666    scheduling systems, and languages for "active" (computational)
    667    material.  (The latter, in particular, can pose security problems
    668    which must be understood by implementors, and are considered in
    669    detail in the discussion of the "application/PostScript" media type.)
    670 
    671 
    672 
    673 
    674 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 12]
    675 
    676 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
    677 
    678 
    679    For example, a meeting scheduler might define a standard
    680    representation for information about proposed meeting dates.  An
    681    intelligent user agent would use this information to conduct a dialog
    682    with the user, and might then send additional material based on that
    683    dialog.  More generally, there have been several "active" messaging
    684    languages developed in which programs in a suitably specialized
    685    language are transported to a remote location and automatically run
    686    in the recipient's environment.
    687 
    688    Such applications may be defined as subtypes of the "application"
    689    media type. This document defines two subtypes:
    690 
    691    octet-stream, and PostScript.
    692 
    693    The subtype of "application" will often be either the name or include
    694    part of the name of the application for which the data are intended.
    695    This does not mean, however, that any application program name may be
    696    used freely as a subtype of "application".
    697 
    698 4.5.1.  Octet-Stream Subtype
    699 
    700    The "octet-stream" subtype is used to indicate that a body contains
    701    arbitrary binary data.  The set of currently defined parameters is:
    702 
    703     (1)   TYPE -- the general type or category of binary data.
    704           This is intended as information for the human recipient
    705           rather than for any automatic processing.
    706 
    707     (2)   PADDING -- the number of bits of padding that were
    708           appended to the bit-stream comprising the actual
    709           contents to produce the enclosed 8bit byte-oriented
    710           data.  This is useful for enclosing a bit-stream in a
    711           body when the total number of bits is not a multiple of
    712           8.
    713 
    714    Both of these parameters are optional.
    715 
    716    An additional parameter, "CONVERSIONS", was defined in RFC 1341 but
    717    has since been removed.  RFC 1341 also defined the use of a "NAME"
    718    parameter which gave a suggested file name to be used if the data
    719    were to be written to a file.  This has been deprecated in
    720    anticipation of a separate Content-Disposition header field, to be
    721    defined in a subsequent RFC.
    722 
    723    The recommended action for an implementation that receives an
    724    "application/octet-stream" entity is to simply offer to put the data
    725    in a file, with any Content-Transfer-Encoding undone, or perhaps to
    726    use it as input to a user-specified process.
    727 
    728 
    729 
    730 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 13]
    731 
    732 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
    733 
    734 
    735    To reduce the danger of transmitting rogue programs, it is strongly
    736    recommended that implementations NOT implement a path-search
    737    mechanism whereby an arbitrary program named in the Content-Type
    738    parameter (e.g., an "interpreter=" parameter) is found and executed
    739    using the message body as input.
    740 
    741 4.5.2.  PostScript Subtype
    742 
    743    A media type of "application/postscript" indicates a PostScript
    744    program.  Currently two variants of the PostScript language are
    745    allowed; the original level 1 variant is described in [POSTSCRIPT]
    746    and the more recent level 2 variant is described in [POSTSCRIPT2].
    747 
    748    PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc.  Use of
    749    the MIME media type "application/postscript" implies recognition of
    750    that trademark and all the rights it entails.
    751 
    752    The PostScript language definition provides facilities for internal
    753    labelling of the specific language features a given program uses.
    754    This labelling, called the PostScript document structuring
    755    conventions, or DSC, is very general and provides substantially more
    756    information than just the language level.  The use of document
    757    structuring conventions, while not required, is strongly recommended
    758    as an aid to interoperability.  Documents which lack proper
    759    structuring conventions cannot be tested to see whether or not they
    760    will work in a given environment.  As such, some systems may assume
    761    the worst and refuse to process unstructured documents.
    762 
    763    The execution of general-purpose PostScript interpreters entails
    764    serious security risks, and implementors are discouraged from simply
    765    sending PostScript bodies to "off- the-shelf" interpreters.  While it
    766    is usually safe to send PostScript to a printer, where the potential
    767    for harm is greatly constrained by typical printer environments,
    768    implementors should consider all of the following before they add
    769    interactive display of PostScript bodies to their MIME readers.
    770 
    771    The remainder of this section outlines some, though probably not all,
    772    of the possible problems with the transport of PostScript entities.
    773 
    774     (1)   Dangerous operations in the PostScript language
    775           include, but may not be limited to, the PostScript
    776           operators "deletefile", "renamefile", "filenameforall",
    777           and "file".  "File" is only dangerous when applied to
    778           something other than standard input or output.
    779           Implementations may also define additional nonstandard
    780           file operators; these may also pose a threat to
    781           security. "Filenameforall", the wildcard file search
    782           operator, may appear at first glance to be harmless.
    783 
    784 
    785 
    786 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 14]
    787 
    788 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
    789 
    790 
    791           Note, however, that this operator has the potential to
    792           reveal information about what files the recipient has
    793           access to, and this information may itself be
    794           sensitive.  Message senders should avoid the use of
    795           potentially dangerous file operators, since these
    796           operators are quite likely to be unavailable in secure
    797           PostScript implementations.  Message receiving and
    798           displaying software should either completely disable
    799           all potentially dangerous file operators or take
    800           special care not to delegate any special authority to
    801           their operation.  These operators should be viewed as
    802           being done by an outside agency when interpreting
    803           PostScript documents.  Such disabling and/or checking
    804           should be done completely outside of the reach of the
    805           PostScript language itself; care should be taken to
    806           insure that no method exists for re-enabling full-
    807           function versions of these operators.
    808 
    809     (2)   The PostScript language provides facilities for exiting
    810           the normal interpreter, or server, loop.  Changes made
    811           in this "outer" environment are customarily retained
    812           across documents, and may in some cases be retained
    813           semipermanently in nonvolatile memory.  The operators
    814           associated with exiting the interpreter loop have the
    815           potential to interfere with subsequent document
    816           processing.  As such, their unrestrained use
    817           constitutes a threat of service denial.  PostScript
    818           operators that exit the interpreter loop include, but
    819           may not be limited to, the exitserver and startjob
    820           operators.  Message sending software should not
    821           generate PostScript that depends on exiting the
    822           interpreter loop to operate, since the ability to exit
    823           will probably be unavailable in secure PostScript
    824           implementations.  Message receiving and displaying
    825           software should completely disable the ability to make
    826           retained changes to the PostScript environment by
    827           eliminating or disabling the "startjob" and
    828           "exitserver" operations.  If these operations cannot be
    829           eliminated or completely disabled the password
    830           associated with them should at least be set to a hard-
    831           to-guess value.
    832 
    833     (3)   PostScript provides operators for setting system-wide
    834           and device-specific parameters.  These parameter
    835           settings may be retained across jobs and may
    836           potentially pose a threat to the correct operation of
    837           the interpreter.  The PostScript operators that set
    838           system and device parameters include, but may not be
    839 
    840 
    841 
    842 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 15]
    843 
    844 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
    845 
    846 
    847           limited to, the "setsystemparams" and "setdevparams"
    848           operators.  Message sending software should not
    849           generate PostScript that depends on the setting of
    850           system or device parameters to operate correctly.  The
    851           ability to set these parameters will probably be
    852           unavailable in secure PostScript implementations.
    853           Message receiving and displaying software should
    854           disable the ability to change system and device
    855           parameters.  If these operators cannot be completely
    856           disabled the password associated with them should at
    857           least be set to a hard-to-guess value.
    858 
    859     (4)   Some PostScript implementations provide nonstandard
    860           facilities for the direct loading and execution of
    861           machine code.  Such facilities are quite obviously open
    862           to substantial abuse.  Message sending software should
    863           not make use of such features.  Besides being totally
    864           hardware-specific, they are also likely to be
    865           unavailable in secure implementations of PostScript.
    866           Message receiving and displaying software should not
    867           allow such operators to be used if they exist.
    868 
    869     (5)   PostScript is an extensible language, and many, if not
    870           most, implementations of it provide a number of their
    871           own extensions.  This document does not deal with such
    872           extensions explicitly since they constitute an unknown
    873           factor.  Message sending software should not make use
    874           of nonstandard extensions; they are likely to be
    875           missing from some implementations.  Message receiving
    876           and displaying software should make sure that any
    877           nonstandard PostScript operators are secure and don't
    878           present any kind of threat.
    879 
    880     (6)   It is possible to write PostScript that consumes huge
    881           amounts of various system resources.  It is also
    882           possible to write PostScript programs that loop
    883           indefinitely.  Both types of programs have the
    884           potential to cause damage if sent to unsuspecting
    885           recipients.  Message-sending software should avoid the
    886           construction and dissemination of such programs, which
    887           is antisocial.  Message receiving and displaying
    888           software should provide appropriate mechanisms to abort
    889           processing after a reasonable amount of time has
    890           elapsed. In addition, PostScript interpreters should be
    891           limited to the consumption of only a reasonable amount
    892           of any given system resource.
    893 
    894 
    895 
    896 
    897 
    898 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 16]
    899 
    900 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
    901 
    902 
    903     (7)   It is possible to include raw binary information inside
    904           PostScript in various forms.  This is not recommended
    905           for use in Internet mail, both because it is not
    906           supported by all PostScript interpreters and because it
    907           significantly complicates the use of a MIME Content-
    908           Transfer-Encoding.  (Without such binary, PostScript
    909           may typically be viewed as line-oriented data.  The
    910           treatment of CRLF sequences becomes extremely
    911           problematic if binary and line-oriented data are mixed
    912           in a single Postscript data stream.)
    913 
    914     (8)   Finally, bugs may exist in some PostScript interpreters
    915           which could possibly be exploited to gain unauthorized
    916           access to a recipient's system.  Apart from noting this
    917           possibility, there is no specific action to take to
    918           prevent this, apart from the timely correction of such
    919           bugs if any are found.
    920 
    921 4.5.3.  Other Application Subtypes
    922 
    923    It is expected that many other subtypes of "application" will be
    924    defined in the future.  MIME implementations must at a minimum treat
    925    any unrecognized subtypes as being equivalent to "application/octet-
    926    stream".
    927 
    928 5.  Composite Media Type Values
    929 
    930    The remaining two of the seven initial Content-Type values refer to
    931    composite entities.  Composite entities are handled using MIME
    932    mechanisms -- a MIME processor typically handles the body directly.
    933 
    934 5.1.  Multipart Media Type
    935 
    936    In the case of multipart entities, in which one or more different
    937    sets of data are combined in a single body, a "multipart" media type
    938    field must appear in the entity's header.  The body must then contain
    939    one or more body parts, each preceded by a boundary delimiter line,
    940    and the last one followed by a closing boundary delimiter line.
    941    After its boundary delimiter line, each body part then consists of a
    942    header area, a blank line, and a body area.  Thus a body part is
    943    similar to an RFC 822 message in syntax, but different in meaning.
    944 
    945    A body part is an entity and hence is NOT to be interpreted as
    946    actually being an RFC 822 message.  To begin with, NO header fields
    947    are actually required in body parts.  A body part that starts with a
    948    blank line, therefore, is allowed and is a body part for which all
    949    default values are to be assumed.  In such a case, the absence of a
    950    Content-Type header usually indicates that the corresponding body has
    951 
    952 
    953 
    954 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 17]
    955 
    956 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
    957 
    958 
    959    a content-type of "text/plain; charset=US-ASCII".
    960 
    961    The only header fields that have defined meaning for body parts are
    962    those the names of which begin with "Content-".  All other header
    963    fields may be ignored in body parts.  Although they should generally
    964    be retained if at all possible, they may be discarded by gateways if
    965    necessary.  Such other fields are permitted to appear in body parts
    966    but must not be depended on.  "X-" fields may be created for
    967    experimental or private purposes, with the recognition that the
    968    information they contain may be lost at some gateways.
    969 
    970    NOTE:  The distinction between an RFC 822 message and a body part is
    971    subtle, but important.  A gateway between Internet and X.400 mail,
    972    for example, must be able to tell the difference between a body part
    973    that contains an image and a body part that contains an encapsulated
    974    message, the body of which is a JPEG image.  In order to represent
    975    the latter, the body part must have "Content-Type: message/rfc822",
    976    and its body (after the blank line) must be the encapsulated message,
    977    with its own "Content-Type: image/jpeg" header field.  The use of
    978    similar syntax facilitates the conversion of messages to body parts,
    979    and vice versa, but the distinction between the two must be
    980    understood by implementors.  (For the special case in which parts
    981    actually are messages, a "digest" subtype is also defined.)
    982 
    983    As stated previously, each body part is preceded by a boundary
    984    delimiter line that contains the boundary delimiter.  The boundary
    985    delimiter MUST NOT appear inside any of the encapsulated parts, on a
    986    line by itself or as the prefix of any line.  This implies that it is
    987    crucial that the composing agent be able to choose and specify a
    988    unique boundary parameter value that does not contain the boundary
    989    parameter value of an enclosing multipart as a prefix.
    990 
    991    All present and future subtypes of the "multipart" type must use an
    992    identical syntax.  Subtypes may differ in their semantics, and may
    993    impose additional restrictions on syntax, but must conform to the
    994    required syntax for the "multipart" type.  This requirement ensures
    995    that all conformant user agents will at least be able to recognize
    996    and separate the parts of any multipart entity, even those of an
    997    unrecognized subtype.
    998 
    999    As stated in the definition of the Content-Transfer-Encoding field
   1000    [RFC 2045], no encoding other than "7bit", "8bit", or "binary" is
   1001    permitted for entities of type "multipart".  The "multipart" boundary
   1002    delimiters and header fields are always represented as 7bit US-ASCII
   1003    in any case (though the header fields may encode non-US-ASCII header
   1004    text as per RFC 2047) and data within the body parts can be encoded
   1005    on a part-by-part basis, with Content-Transfer-Encoding fields for
   1006    each appropriate body part.
   1007 
   1008 
   1009 
   1010 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 18]
   1011 
   1012 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   1013 
   1014 
   1015 5.1.1.  Common Syntax
   1016 
   1017    This section defines a common syntax for subtypes of "multipart".
   1018    All subtypes of "multipart" must use this syntax.  A simple example
   1019    of a multipart message also appears in this section.  An example of a
   1020    more complex multipart message is given in RFC 2049.
   1021 
   1022    The Content-Type field for multipart entities requires one parameter,
   1023    "boundary". The boundary delimiter line is then defined as a line
   1024    consisting entirely of two hyphen characters ("-", decimal value 45)
   1025    followed by the boundary parameter value from the Content-Type header
   1026    field, optional linear whitespace, and a terminating CRLF.
   1027 
   1028    NOTE:  The hyphens are for rough compatibility with the earlier RFC
   1029    934 method of message encapsulation, and for ease of searching for
   1030    the boundaries in some implementations.  However, it should be noted
   1031    that multipart messages are NOT completely compatible with RFC 934
   1032    encapsulations; in particular, they do not obey RFC 934 quoting
   1033    conventions for embedded lines that begin with hyphens.  This
   1034    mechanism was chosen over the RFC 934 mechanism because the latter
   1035    causes lines to grow with each level of quoting.  The combination of
   1036    this growth with the fact that SMTP implementations sometimes wrap
   1037    long lines made the RFC 934 mechanism unsuitable for use in the event
   1038    that deeply-nested multipart structuring is ever desired.
   1039 
   1040    WARNING TO IMPLEMENTORS:  The grammar for parameters on the Content-
   1041    type field is such that it is often necessary to enclose the boundary
   1042    parameter values in quotes on the Content-type line.  This is not
   1043    always necessary, but never hurts. Implementors should be sure to
   1044    study the grammar carefully in order to avoid producing invalid
   1045    Content-type fields.  Thus, a typical "multipart" Content-Type header
   1046    field might look like this:
   1047 
   1048      Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=gc0p4Jq0M2Yt08j34c0p
   1049 
   1050    But the following is not valid:
   1051 
   1052      Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=gc0pJq0M:08jU534c0p
   1053 
   1054    (because of the colon) and must instead be represented as
   1055 
   1056      Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="gc0pJq0M:08jU534c0p"
   1057 
   1058    This Content-Type value indicates that the content consists of one or
   1059    more parts, each with a structure that is syntactically identical to
   1060    an RFC 822 message, except that the header area is allowed to be
   1061    completely empty, and that the parts are each preceded by the line
   1062 
   1063 
   1064 
   1065 
   1066 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 19]
   1067 
   1068 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   1069 
   1070 
   1071      --gc0pJq0M:08jU534c0p
   1072 
   1073    The boundary delimiter MUST occur at the beginning of a line, i.e.,
   1074    following a CRLF, and the initial CRLF is considered to be attached
   1075    to the boundary delimiter line rather than part of the preceding
   1076    part.  The boundary may be followed by zero or more characters of
   1077    linear whitespace. It is then terminated by either another CRLF and
   1078    the header fields for the next part, or by two CRLFs, in which case
   1079    there are no header fields for the next part.  If no Content-Type
   1080    field is present it is assumed to be "message/rfc822" in a
   1081    "multipart/digest" and "text/plain" otherwise.
   1082 
   1083    NOTE:  The CRLF preceding the boundary delimiter line is conceptually
   1084    attached to the boundary so that it is possible to have a part that
   1085    does not end with a CRLF (line  break).  Body parts that must be
   1086    considered to end with line breaks, therefore, must have two CRLFs
   1087    preceding the boundary delimiter line, the first of which is part of
   1088    the preceding body part, and the second of which is part of the
   1089    encapsulation boundary.
   1090 
   1091    Boundary delimiters must not appear within the encapsulated material,
   1092    and must be no longer than 70 characters, not counting the two
   1093    leading hyphens.
   1094 
   1095    The boundary delimiter line following the last body part is a
   1096    distinguished delimiter that indicates that no further body parts
   1097    will follow.  Such a delimiter line is identical to the previous
   1098    delimiter lines, with the addition of two more hyphens after the
   1099    boundary parameter value.
   1100 
   1101      --gc0pJq0M:08jU534c0p--
   1102 
   1103    NOTE TO IMPLEMENTORS:  Boundary string comparisons must compare the
   1104    boundary value with the beginning of each candidate line.  An exact
   1105    match of the entire candidate line is not required; it is sufficient
   1106    that the boundary appear in its entirety following the CRLF.
   1107 
   1108    There appears to be room for additional information prior to the
   1109    first boundary delimiter line and following the final boundary
   1110    delimiter line.  These areas should generally be left blank, and
   1111    implementations must ignore anything that appears before the first
   1112    boundary delimiter line or after the last one.
   1113 
   1114    NOTE:  These "preamble" and "epilogue" areas are generally not used
   1115    because of the lack of proper typing of these parts and the lack of
   1116    clear semantics for handling these areas at gateways, particularly
   1117    X.400 gateways.  However, rather than leaving the preamble area
   1118    blank, many MIME implementations have found this to be a convenient
   1119 
   1120 
   1121 
   1122 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 20]
   1123 
   1124 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   1125 
   1126 
   1127    place to insert an explanatory note for recipients who read the
   1128    message with pre-MIME software, since such notes will be ignored by
   1129    MIME-compliant software.
   1130 
   1131    NOTE:  Because boundary delimiters must not appear in the body parts
   1132    being encapsulated, a user agent must exercise care to choose a
   1133    unique boundary parameter value.  The boundary parameter value in the
   1134    example above could have been the result of an algorithm designed to
   1135    produce boundary delimiters with a very low probability of already
   1136    existing in the data to be encapsulated without having to prescan the
   1137    data.  Alternate algorithms might result in more "readable" boundary
   1138    delimiters for a recipient with an old user agent, but would require
   1139    more attention to the possibility that the boundary delimiter might
   1140    appear at the beginning of some line in the encapsulated part.  The
   1141    simplest boundary delimiter line possible is something like "---",
   1142    with a closing boundary delimiter line of "-----".
   1143 
   1144    As a very simple example, the following multipart message has two
   1145    parts, both of them plain text, one of them explicitly typed and one
   1146    of them implicitly typed:
   1147 
   1148      From: Nathaniel Borenstein <nsb@bellcore.com>
   1149      To: Ned Freed <ned@innosoft.com>
   1150      Date: Sun, 21 Mar 1993 23:56:48 -0800 (PST)
   1151      Subject: Sample message
   1152      MIME-Version: 1.0
   1153      Content-type: multipart/mixed; boundary="simple boundary"
   1154 
   1155      This is the preamble.  It is to be ignored, though it
   1156      is a handy place for composition agents to include an
   1157      explanatory note to non-MIME conformant readers.
   1158 
   1159      --simple boundary
   1160 
   1161      This is implicitly typed plain US-ASCII text.
   1162      It does NOT end with a linebreak.
   1163      --simple boundary
   1164      Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
   1165 
   1166      This is explicitly typed plain US-ASCII text.
   1167      It DOES end with a linebreak.
   1168 
   1169      --simple boundary--
   1170 
   1171      This is the epilogue.  It is also to be ignored.
   1172 
   1173 
   1174 
   1175 
   1176 
   1177 
   1178 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 21]
   1179 
   1180 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   1181 
   1182 
   1183    The use of a media type of "multipart" in a body part within another
   1184    "multipart" entity is explicitly allowed.  In such cases, for obvious
   1185    reasons, care must be taken to ensure that each nested "multipart"
   1186    entity uses a different boundary delimiter.  See RFC 2049 for an
   1187    example of nested "multipart" entities.
   1188 
   1189    The use of the "multipart" media type with only a single body part
   1190    may be useful in certain contexts, and is explicitly permitted.
   1191 
   1192    NOTE: Experience has shown that a "multipart" media type with a
   1193    single body part is useful for sending non-text media types.  It has
   1194    the advantage of providing the preamble as a place to include
   1195    decoding instructions.  In addition, a number of SMTP gateways move
   1196    or remove the MIME headers, and a clever MIME decoder can take a good
   1197    guess at multipart boundaries even in the absence of the Content-Type
   1198    header and thereby successfully decode the message.
   1199 
   1200    The only mandatory global parameter for the "multipart" media type is
   1201    the boundary parameter, which consists of 1 to 70 characters from a
   1202    set of characters known to be very robust through mail gateways, and
   1203    NOT ending with white space. (If a boundary delimiter line appears to
   1204    end with white space, the white space must be presumed to have been
   1205    added by a gateway, and must be deleted.)  It is formally specified
   1206    by the following BNF:
   1207 
   1208      boundary := 0*69<bchars> bcharsnospace
   1209 
   1210      bchars := bcharsnospace / " "
   1211 
   1212      bcharsnospace := DIGIT / ALPHA / "'" / "(" / ")" /
   1213                       "+" / "_" / "," / "-" / "." /
   1214                       "/" / ":" / "=" / "?"
   1215 
   1216    Overall, the body of a "multipart" entity may be specified as
   1217    follows:
   1218 
   1219      dash-boundary := "--" boundary
   1220                       ; boundary taken from the value of
   1221                       ; boundary parameter of the
   1222                       ; Content-Type field.
   1223 
   1224      multipart-body := [preamble CRLF]
   1225                        dash-boundary transport-padding CRLF
   1226                        body-part *encapsulation
   1227                        close-delimiter transport-padding
   1228                        [CRLF epilogue]
   1229 
   1230 
   1231 
   1232 
   1233 
   1234 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 22]
   1235 
   1236 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   1237 
   1238 
   1239      transport-padding := *LWSP-char
   1240                           ; Composers MUST NOT generate
   1241                           ; non-zero length transport
   1242                           ; padding, but receivers MUST
   1243                           ; be able to handle padding
   1244                           ; added by message transports.
   1245 
   1246      encapsulation := delimiter transport-padding
   1247                       CRLF body-part
   1248 
   1249      delimiter := CRLF dash-boundary
   1250 
   1251      close-delimiter := delimiter "--"
   1252 
   1253      preamble := discard-text
   1254 
   1255      epilogue := discard-text
   1256 
   1257      discard-text := *(*text CRLF) *text
   1258                      ; May be ignored or discarded.
   1259 
   1260      body-part := MIME-part-headers [CRLF *OCTET]
   1261                   ; Lines in a body-part must not start
   1262                   ; with the specified dash-boundary and
   1263                   ; the delimiter must not appear anywhere
   1264                   ; in the body part.  Note that the
   1265                   ; semantics of a body-part differ from
   1266                   ; the semantics of a message, as
   1267                   ; described in the text.
   1268 
   1269      OCTET := <any 0-255 octet value>
   1270 
   1271    IMPORTANT:  The free insertion of linear-white-space and RFC 822
   1272    comments between the elements shown in this BNF is NOT allowed since
   1273    this BNF does not specify a structured header field.
   1274 
   1275    NOTE:  In certain transport enclaves, RFC 822 restrictions such as
   1276    the one that limits bodies to printable US-ASCII characters may not
   1277    be in force. (That is, the transport domains may exist that resemble
   1278    standard Internet mail transport as specified in RFC 821 and assumed
   1279    by RFC 822, but without certain restrictions.) The relaxation of
   1280    these restrictions should be construed as locally extending the
   1281    definition of bodies, for example to include octets outside of the
   1282    US-ASCII range, as long as these extensions are supported by the
   1283    transport and adequately documented in the Content- Transfer-Encoding
   1284    header field.  However, in no event are headers (either message
   1285    headers or body part headers) allowed to contain anything other than
   1286    US-ASCII characters.
   1287 
   1288 
   1289 
   1290 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 23]
   1291 
   1292 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   1293 
   1294 
   1295    NOTE:  Conspicuously missing from the "multipart" type is a notion of
   1296    structured, related body parts. It is recommended that those wishing
   1297    to provide more structured or integrated multipart messaging
   1298    facilities should define subtypes of multipart that are syntactically
   1299    identical but define relationships between the various parts. For
   1300    example, subtypes of multipart could be defined that include a
   1301    distinguished part which in turn is used to specify the relationships
   1302    between the other parts, probably referring to them by their
   1303    Content-ID field.  Old implementations will not recognize the new
   1304    subtype if this approach is used, but will treat it as
   1305    multipart/mixed and will thus be able to show the user the parts that
   1306    are recognized.
   1307 
   1308 5.1.2.  Handling Nested Messages and Multiparts
   1309 
   1310    The "message/rfc822" subtype defined in a subsequent section of this
   1311    document has no terminating condition other than running out of data.
   1312    Similarly, an improperly truncated "multipart" entity may not have
   1313    any terminating boundary marker, and can turn up operationally due to
   1314    mail system malfunctions.
   1315 
   1316    It is essential that such entities be handled correctly when they are
   1317    themselves imbedded inside of another "multipart" structure.  MIME
   1318    implementations are therefore required to recognize outer level
   1319    boundary markers at ANY level of inner nesting.  It is not sufficient
   1320    to only check for the next expected marker or other terminating
   1321    condition.
   1322 
   1323 5.1.3.  Mixed Subtype
   1324 
   1325    The "mixed" subtype of "multipart" is intended for use when the body
   1326    parts are independent and need to be bundled in a particular order.
   1327    Any "multipart" subtypes that an implementation does not recognize
   1328    must be treated as being of subtype "mixed".
   1329 
   1330 5.1.4.  Alternative Subtype
   1331 
   1332    The "multipart/alternative" type is syntactically identical to
   1333    "multipart/mixed", but the semantics are different.  In particular,
   1334    each of the body parts is an "alternative" version of the same
   1335    information.
   1336 
   1337    Systems should recognize that the content of the various parts are
   1338    interchangeable.  Systems should choose the "best" type based on the
   1339    local environment and references, in some cases even through user
   1340    interaction.  As with "multipart/mixed", the order of body parts is
   1341    significant.  In this case, the alternatives appear in an order of
   1342    increasing faithfulness to the original content.  In general, the
   1343 
   1344 
   1345 
   1346 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 24]
   1347 
   1348 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   1349 
   1350 
   1351    best choice is the LAST part of a type supported by the recipient
   1352    system's local environment.
   1353 
   1354    "Multipart/alternative" may be used, for example, to send a message
   1355    in a fancy text format in such a way that it can easily be displayed
   1356    anywhere:
   1357 
   1358      From: Nathaniel Borenstein <nsb@bellcore.com>
   1359      To: Ned Freed <ned@innosoft.com>
   1360      Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1993 09:41:09 -0800 (PST)
   1361      Subject: Formatted text mail
   1362      MIME-Version: 1.0
   1363      Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=boundary42
   1364 
   1365      --boundary42
   1366      Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
   1367 
   1368        ... plain text version of message goes here ...
   1369 
   1370      --boundary42
   1371      Content-Type: text/enriched
   1372 
   1373        ... RFC 1896 text/enriched version of same message
   1374            goes here ...
   1375 
   1376      --boundary42
   1377      Content-Type: application/x-whatever
   1378 
   1379        ... fanciest version of same message goes here ...
   1380 
   1381      --boundary42--
   1382 
   1383    In this example, users whose mail systems understood the
   1384    "application/x-whatever" format would see only the fancy version,
   1385    while other users would see only the enriched or plain text version,
   1386    depending on the capabilities of their system.
   1387 
   1388    In general, user agents that compose "multipart/alternative" entities
   1389    must place the body parts in increasing order of preference, that is,
   1390    with the preferred format last.  For fancy text, the sending user
   1391    agent should put the plainest format first and the richest format
   1392    last.  Receiving user agents should pick and display the last format
   1393    they are capable of displaying.  In the case where one of the
   1394    alternatives is itself of type "multipart" and contains unrecognized
   1395    sub-parts, the user agent may choose either to show that alternative,
   1396    an earlier alternative, or both.
   1397 
   1398 
   1399 
   1400 
   1401 
   1402 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 25]
   1403 
   1404 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   1405 
   1406 
   1407    NOTE: From an implementor's perspective, it might seem more sensible
   1408    to reverse this ordering, and have the plainest alternative last.
   1409    However, placing the plainest alternative first is the friendliest
   1410    possible option when "multipart/alternative" entities are viewed
   1411    using a non-MIME-conformant viewer.  While this approach does impose
   1412    some burden on conformant MIME viewers, interoperability with older
   1413    mail readers was deemed to be more important in this case.
   1414 
   1415    It may be the case that some user agents, if they can recognize more
   1416    than one of the formats, will prefer to offer the user the choice of
   1417    which format to view.  This makes sense, for example, if a message
   1418    includes both a nicely- formatted image version and an easily-edited
   1419    text version.  What is most critical, however, is that the user not
   1420    automatically be shown multiple versions of the same data.  Either
   1421    the user should be shown the last recognized version or should be
   1422    given the choice.
   1423 
   1424    THE SEMANTICS OF CONTENT-ID IN MULTIPART/ALTERNATIVE:  Each part of a
   1425    "multipart/alternative" entity represents the same data, but the
   1426    mappings between the two are not necessarily without information
   1427    loss.  For example, information is lost when translating ODA to
   1428    PostScript or plain text.  It is recommended that each part should
   1429    have a different Content-ID value in the case where the information
   1430    content of the two parts is not identical.  And when the information
   1431    content is identical -- for example, where several parts of type
   1432    "message/external-body" specify alternate ways to access the
   1433    identical data -- the same Content-ID field value should be used, to
   1434    optimize any caching mechanisms that might be present on the
   1435    recipient's end.  However, the Content-ID values used by the parts
   1436    should NOT be the same Content-ID value that describes the
   1437    "multipart/alternative" as a whole, if there is any such Content-ID
   1438    field.  That is, one Content-ID value will refer to the
   1439    "multipart/alternative" entity, while one or more other Content-ID
   1440    values will refer to the parts inside it.
   1441 
   1442 5.1.5.  Digest Subtype
   1443 
   1444    This document defines a "digest" subtype of the "multipart" Content-
   1445    Type.  This type is syntactically identical to "multipart/mixed", but
   1446    the semantics are different.  In particular, in a digest, the default
   1447    Content-Type value for a body part is changed from "text/plain" to
   1448    "message/rfc822".  This is done to allow a more readable digest
   1449    format that is largely compatible (except for the quoting convention)
   1450    with RFC 934.
   1451 
   1452    Note: Though it is possible to specify a Content-Type value for a
   1453    body part in a digest which is other than "message/rfc822", such as a
   1454    "text/plain" part containing a description of the material in the
   1455 
   1456 
   1457 
   1458 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 26]
   1459 
   1460 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   1461 
   1462 
   1463    digest, actually doing so is undesireble. The "multipart/digest"
   1464    Content-Type is intended to be used to send collections of messages.
   1465    If a "text/plain" part is needed, it should be included as a seperate
   1466    part of a "multipart/mixed" message.
   1467 
   1468    A digest in this format might, then, look something like this:
   1469 
   1470      From: Moderator-Address
   1471      To: Recipient-List
   1472      Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1994 13:34:51 +0000
   1473      Subject: Internet Digest, volume 42
   1474      MIME-Version: 1.0
   1475      Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
   1476                    boundary="---- main boundary ----"
   1477 
   1478      ------ main boundary ----
   1479 
   1480        ...Introductory text or table of contents...
   1481 
   1482      ------ main boundary ----
   1483      Content-Type: multipart/digest;
   1484                    boundary="---- next message ----"
   1485 
   1486      ------ next message ----
   1487 
   1488      From: someone-else
   1489      Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1993 11:13:32 +0200
   1490      Subject: my opinion
   1491 
   1492        ...body goes here ...
   1493 
   1494      ------ next message ----
   1495 
   1496      From: someone-else-again
   1497      Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1993 10:07:13 -0500
   1498      Subject: my different opinion
   1499 
   1500        ... another body goes here ...
   1501 
   1502      ------ next message ------
   1503 
   1504      ------ main boundary ------
   1505 
   1506 5.1.6.  Parallel Subtype
   1507 
   1508    This document defines a "parallel" subtype of the "multipart"
   1509    Content-Type.  This type is syntactically identical to
   1510    "multipart/mixed", but the semantics are different.  In particular,
   1511 
   1512 
   1513 
   1514 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 27]
   1515 
   1516 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   1517 
   1518 
   1519    in a parallel entity, the order of body parts is not significant.
   1520 
   1521    A common presentation of this type is to display all of the parts
   1522    simultaneously on hardware and software that are capable of doing so.
   1523    However, composing agents should be aware that many mail readers will
   1524    lack this capability and will show the parts serially in any event.
   1525 
   1526 5.1.7.  Other Multipart Subtypes
   1527 
   1528    Other "multipart" subtypes are expected in the future.  MIME
   1529    implementations must in general treat unrecognized subtypes of
   1530    "multipart" as being equivalent to "multipart/mixed".
   1531 
   1532 5.2.  Message Media Type
   1533 
   1534    It is frequently desirable, in sending mail, to encapsulate another
   1535    mail message.  A special media type, "message", is defined to
   1536    facilitate this.  In particular, the "rfc822" subtype of "message" is
   1537    used to encapsulate RFC 822 messages.
   1538 
   1539    NOTE:  It has been suggested that subtypes of "message" might be
   1540    defined for forwarded or rejected messages.  However, forwarded and
   1541    rejected messages can be handled as multipart messages in which the
   1542    first part contains any control or descriptive information, and a
   1543    second part, of type "message/rfc822", is the forwarded or rejected
   1544    message.  Composing rejection and forwarding messages in this manner
   1545    will preserve the type information on the original message and allow
   1546    it to be correctly presented to the recipient, and hence is strongly
   1547    encouraged.
   1548 
   1549    Subtypes of "message" often impose restrictions on what encodings are
   1550    allowed.  These restrictions are described in conjunction with each
   1551    specific subtype.
   1552 
   1553    Mail gateways, relays, and other mail handling agents are commonly
   1554    known to alter the top-level header of an RFC 822 message.  In
   1555    particular, they frequently add, remove, or reorder header fields.
   1556    These operations are explicitly forbidden for the encapsulated
   1557    headers embedded in the bodies of messages of type "message."
   1558 
   1559 5.2.1.  RFC822 Subtype
   1560 
   1561    A media type of "message/rfc822" indicates that the body contains an
   1562    encapsulated message, with the syntax of an RFC 822 message.
   1563    However, unlike top-level RFC 822 messages, the restriction that each
   1564    "message/rfc822" body must include a "From", "Date", and at least one
   1565    destination header is removed and replaced with the requirement that
   1566    at least one of "From", "Subject", or "Date" must be present.
   1567 
   1568 
   1569 
   1570 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 28]
   1571 
   1572 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   1573 
   1574 
   1575    It should be noted that, despite the use of the numbers "822", a
   1576    "message/rfc822" entity isn't restricted to material in strict
   1577    conformance to RFC822, nor are the semantics of "message/rfc822"
   1578    objects restricted to the semantics defined in RFC822. More
   1579    specifically, a "message/rfc822" message could well be a News article
   1580    or a MIME message.
   1581 
   1582    No encoding other than "7bit", "8bit", or "binary" is permitted for
   1583    the body of a "message/rfc822" entity.  The message header fields are
   1584    always US-ASCII in any case, and data within the body can still be
   1585    encoded, in which case the Content-Transfer-Encoding header field in
   1586    the encapsulated message will reflect this.  Non-US-ASCII text in the
   1587    headers of an encapsulated message can be specified using the
   1588    mechanisms described in RFC 2047.
   1589 
   1590 5.2.2.  Partial Subtype
   1591 
   1592    The "partial" subtype is defined to allow large entities to be
   1593    delivered as several separate pieces of mail and automatically
   1594    reassembled by a receiving user agent.  (The concept is similar to IP
   1595    fragmentation and reassembly in the basic Internet Protocols.)  This
   1596    mechanism can be used when intermediate transport agents limit the
   1597    size of individual messages that can be sent.  The media type
   1598    "message/partial" thus indicates that the body contains a fragment of
   1599    a larger entity.
   1600 
   1601    Because data of type "message" may never be encoded in base64 or
   1602    quoted-printable, a problem might arise if "message/partial" entities
   1603    are constructed in an environment that supports binary or 8bit
   1604    transport.  The problem is that the binary data would be split into
   1605    multiple "message/partial" messages, each of them requiring binary
   1606    transport.  If such messages were encountered at a gateway into a
   1607    7bit transport environment, there would be no way to properly encode
   1608    them for the 7bit world, aside from waiting for all of the fragments,
   1609    reassembling the inner message, and then encoding the reassembled
   1610    data in base64 or quoted-printable.  Since it is possible that
   1611    different fragments might go through different gateways, even this is
   1612    not an acceptable solution.  For this reason, it is specified that
   1613    entities of type "message/partial" must always have a content-
   1614    transfer-encoding of 7bit (the default).  In particular, even in
   1615    environments that support binary or 8bit transport, the use of a
   1616    content- transfer-encoding of "8bit" or "binary" is explicitly
   1617    prohibited for MIME entities of type "message/partial". This in turn
   1618    implies that the inner message must not use "8bit" or "binary"
   1619    encoding.
   1620 
   1621 
   1622 
   1623 
   1624 
   1625 
   1626 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 29]
   1627 
   1628 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   1629 
   1630 
   1631    Because some message transfer agents may choose to automatically
   1632    fragment large messages, and because such agents may use very
   1633    different fragmentation thresholds, it is possible that the pieces of
   1634    a partial message, upon reassembly, may prove themselves to comprise
   1635    a partial message.  This is explicitly permitted.
   1636 
   1637    Three parameters must be specified in the Content-Type field of type
   1638    "message/partial":  The first, "id", is a unique identifier, as close
   1639    to a world-unique identifier as possible, to be used to match the
   1640    fragments together. (In general, the identifier is essentially a
   1641    message-id; if placed in double quotes, it can be ANY message-id, in
   1642    accordance with the BNF for "parameter" given in RFC 2045.)  The
   1643    second, "number", an integer, is the fragment number, which indicates
   1644    where this fragment fits into the sequence of fragments.  The third,
   1645    "total", another integer, is the total number of fragments.  This
   1646    third subfield is required on the final fragment, and is optional
   1647    (though encouraged) on the earlier fragments.  Note also that these
   1648    parameters may be given in any order.
   1649 
   1650    Thus, the second piece of a 3-piece message may have either of the
   1651    following header fields:
   1652 
   1653      Content-Type: Message/Partial; number=2; total=3;
   1654                    id="oc=jpbe0M2Yt4s@thumper.bellcore.com"
   1655 
   1656      Content-Type: Message/Partial;
   1657                    id="oc=jpbe0M2Yt4s@thumper.bellcore.com";
   1658                    number=2
   1659 
   1660    But the third piece MUST specify the total number of fragments:
   1661 
   1662      Content-Type: Message/Partial; number=3; total=3;
   1663                    id="oc=jpbe0M2Yt4s@thumper.bellcore.com"
   1664 
   1665    Note that fragment numbering begins with 1, not 0.
   1666 
   1667    When the fragments of an entity broken up in this manner are put
   1668    together, the result is always a complete MIME entity, which may have
   1669    its own Content-Type header field, and thus may contain any other
   1670    data type.
   1671 
   1672 5.2.2.1.  Message Fragmentation and Reassembly
   1673 
   1674    The semantics of a reassembled partial message must be those of the
   1675    "inner" message, rather than of a message containing the inner
   1676    message.  This makes it possible, for example, to send a large audio
   1677    message as several partial messages, and still have it appear to the
   1678    recipient as a simple audio message rather than as an encapsulated
   1679 
   1680 
   1681 
   1682 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 30]
   1683 
   1684 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   1685 
   1686 
   1687    message containing an audio message.  That is, the encapsulation of
   1688    the message is considered to be "transparent".
   1689 
   1690    When generating and reassembling the pieces of a "message/partial"
   1691    message, the headers of the encapsulated message must be merged with
   1692    the headers of the enclosing entities.  In this process the following
   1693    rules must be observed:
   1694 
   1695     (1)   Fragmentation agents must split messages at line
   1696           boundaries only. This restriction is imposed because
   1697           splits at points other than the ends of lines in turn
   1698           depends on message transports being able to preserve
   1699           the semantics of messages that don't end with a CRLF
   1700           sequence. Many transports are incapable of preserving
   1701           such semantics.
   1702 
   1703     (2)   All of the header fields from the initial enclosing
   1704           message, except those that start with "Content-" and
   1705           the specific header fields "Subject", "Message-ID",
   1706           "Encrypted", and "MIME-Version", must be copied, in
   1707           order, to the new message.
   1708 
   1709     (3)   The header fields in the enclosed message which start
   1710           with "Content-", plus the "Subject", "Message-ID",
   1711           "Encrypted", and "MIME-Version" fields, must be
   1712           appended, in order, to the header fields of the new
   1713           message.  Any header fields in the enclosed message
   1714           which do not start with "Content-" (except for the
   1715           "Subject", "Message-ID", "Encrypted", and "MIME-
   1716           Version" fields) will be ignored and dropped.
   1717 
   1718     (4)   All of the header fields from the second and any
   1719           subsequent enclosing messages are discarded by the
   1720           reassembly process.
   1721 
   1722 5.2.2.2.  Fragmentation and Reassembly Example
   1723 
   1724    If an audio message is broken into two pieces, the first piece might
   1725    look something like this:
   1726 
   1727      X-Weird-Header-1: Foo
   1728      From: Bill@host.com
   1729      To: joe@otherhost.com
   1730      Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1993 12:59:38 -0500 (EST)
   1731      Subject: Audio mail (part 1 of 2)
   1732      Message-ID: <id1@host.com>
   1733      MIME-Version: 1.0
   1734      Content-type: message/partial; id="ABC@host.com";
   1735 
   1736 
   1737 
   1738 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 31]
   1739 
   1740 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   1741 
   1742 
   1743                    number=1; total=2
   1744 
   1745      X-Weird-Header-1: Bar
   1746      X-Weird-Header-2: Hello
   1747      Message-ID: <anotherid@foo.com>
   1748      Subject: Audio mail
   1749      MIME-Version: 1.0
   1750      Content-type: audio/basic
   1751      Content-transfer-encoding: base64
   1752 
   1753        ... first half of encoded audio data goes here ...
   1754 
   1755    and the second half might look something like this:
   1756 
   1757      From: Bill@host.com
   1758      To: joe@otherhost.com
   1759      Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1993 12:59:38 -0500 (EST)
   1760      Subject: Audio mail (part 2 of 2)
   1761      MIME-Version: 1.0
   1762      Message-ID: <id2@host.com>
   1763      Content-type: message/partial;
   1764                    id="ABC@host.com"; number=2; total=2
   1765 
   1766        ... second half of encoded audio data goes here ...
   1767 
   1768    Then, when the fragmented message is reassembled, the resulting
   1769    message to be displayed to the user should look something like this:
   1770 
   1771      X-Weird-Header-1: Foo
   1772      From: Bill@host.com
   1773      To: joe@otherhost.com
   1774      Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1993 12:59:38 -0500 (EST)
   1775      Subject: Audio mail
   1776      Message-ID: <anotherid@foo.com>
   1777      MIME-Version: 1.0
   1778      Content-type: audio/basic
   1779      Content-transfer-encoding: base64
   1780 
   1781        ... first half of encoded audio data goes here ...
   1782        ... second half of encoded audio data goes here ...
   1783 
   1784    The inclusion of a "References" field in the headers of the second
   1785    and subsequent pieces of a fragmented message that references the
   1786    Message-Id on the previous piece may be of benefit to mail readers
   1787    that understand and track references.  However, the generation of
   1788    such "References" fields is entirely optional.
   1789 
   1790 
   1791 
   1792 
   1793 
   1794 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 32]
   1795 
   1796 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   1797 
   1798 
   1799    Finally, it should be noted that the "Encrypted" header field has
   1800    been made obsolete by Privacy Enhanced Messaging (PEM) [RFC-1421,
   1801    RFC-1422, RFC-1423, RFC-1424], but the rules above are nevertheless
   1802    believed to describe the correct way to treat it if it is encountered
   1803    in the context of conversion to and from "message/partial" fragments.
   1804 
   1805 5.2.3.  External-Body Subtype
   1806 
   1807    The external-body subtype indicates that the actual body data are not
   1808    included, but merely referenced.  In this case, the parameters
   1809    describe a mechanism for accessing the external data.
   1810 
   1811    When a MIME entity is of type "message/external-body", it consists of
   1812    a header, two consecutive CRLFs, and the message header for the
   1813    encapsulated message.  If another pair of consecutive CRLFs appears,
   1814    this of course ends the message header for the encapsulated message.
   1815    However, since the encapsulated message's body is itself external, it
   1816    does NOT appear in the area that follows.  For example, consider the
   1817    following message:
   1818 
   1819      Content-type: message/external-body;
   1820                    access-type=local-file;
   1821                    name="/u/nsb/Me.jpeg"
   1822 
   1823      Content-type: image/jpeg
   1824      Content-ID: <id42@guppylake.bellcore.com>
   1825      Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary
   1826 
   1827      THIS IS NOT REALLY THE BODY!
   1828 
   1829    The area at the end, which might be called the "phantom body", is
   1830    ignored for most external-body messages.  However, it may be used to
   1831    contain auxiliary information for some such messages, as indeed it is
   1832    when the access-type is "mail- server".  The only access-type defined
   1833    in this document that uses the phantom body is "mail-server", but
   1834    other access-types may be defined in the future in other
   1835    specifications that use this area.
   1836 
   1837    The encapsulated headers in ALL "message/external-body" entities MUST
   1838    include a Content-ID header field to give a unique identifier by
   1839    which to reference the data.  This identifier may be used for caching
   1840    mechanisms, and for recognizing the receipt of the data when the
   1841    access-type is "mail-server".
   1842 
   1843    Note that, as specified here, the tokens that describe external-body
   1844    data, such as file names and mail server commands, are required to be
   1845    in the US-ASCII character set.
   1846 
   1847 
   1848 
   1849 
   1850 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 33]
   1851 
   1852 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   1853 
   1854 
   1855    If this proves problematic in practice, a new mechanism may be
   1856    required as a future extension to MIME, either as newly defined
   1857    access-types for "message/external-body" or by some other mechanism.
   1858 
   1859    As with "message/partial", MIME entities of type "message/external-
   1860    body" MUST have a content-transfer-encoding of 7bit (the default).
   1861    In particular, even in environments that support binary or 8bit
   1862    transport, the use of a content- transfer-encoding of "8bit" or
   1863    "binary" is explicitly prohibited for entities of type
   1864    "message/external-body".
   1865 
   1866 5.2.3.1.  General External-Body Parameters
   1867 
   1868    The parameters that may be used with any "message/external- body"
   1869    are:
   1870 
   1871     (1)   ACCESS-TYPE -- A word indicating the supported access
   1872           mechanism by which the file or data may be obtained.
   1873           This word is not case sensitive.  Values include, but
   1874           are not limited to, "FTP", "ANON-FTP", "TFTP", "LOCAL-
   1875           FILE", and "MAIL-SERVER".  Future values, except for
   1876           experimental values beginning with "X-", must be
   1877           registered with IANA, as described in RFC 2048.
   1878           This parameter is unconditionally mandatory and MUST be
   1879           present on EVERY "message/external-body".
   1880 
   1881     (2)   EXPIRATION -- The date (in the RFC 822 "date-time"
   1882           syntax, as extended by RFC 1123 to permit 4 digits in
   1883           the year field) after which the existence of the
   1884           external data is not guaranteed.  This parameter may be
   1885           used with ANY access-type and is ALWAYS optional.
   1886 
   1887     (3)   SIZE -- The size (in octets) of the data.  The intent
   1888           of this parameter is to help the recipient decide
   1889           whether or not to expend the necessary resources to
   1890           retrieve the external data.  Note that this describes
   1891           the size of the data in its canonical form, that is,
   1892           before any Content-Transfer-Encoding has been applied
   1893           or after the data have been decoded.  This parameter
   1894           may be used with ANY access-type and is ALWAYS
   1895           optional.
   1896 
   1897     (4)   PERMISSION -- A case-insensitive field that indicates
   1898           whether or not it is expected that clients might also
   1899           attempt to overwrite the data.  By default, or if
   1900           permission is "read", the assumption is that they are
   1901           not, and that if the data is retrieved once, it is
   1902           never needed again.  If PERMISSION is "read-write",
   1903 
   1904 
   1905 
   1906 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 34]
   1907 
   1908 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   1909 
   1910 
   1911           this assumption is invalid, and any local copy must be
   1912           considered no more than a cache.  "Read" and "Read-
   1913           write" are the only defined values of permission.  This
   1914           parameter may be used with ANY access-type and is
   1915           ALWAYS optional.
   1916 
   1917    The precise semantics of the access-types defined here are described
   1918    in the sections that follow.
   1919 
   1920 5.2.3.2.  The 'ftp' and 'tftp' Access-Types
   1921 
   1922    An access-type of FTP or TFTP indicates that the message body is
   1923    accessible as a file using the FTP [RFC-959] or TFTP [RFC- 783]
   1924    protocols, respectively.  For these access-types, the following
   1925    additional parameters are mandatory:
   1926 
   1927     (1)   NAME -- The name of the file that contains the actual
   1928           body data.
   1929 
   1930     (2)   SITE -- A machine from which the file may be obtained,
   1931           using the given protocol.  This must be a fully
   1932           qualified domain name, not a nickname.
   1933 
   1934     (3)   Before any data are retrieved, using FTP, the user will
   1935           generally need to be asked to provide a login id and a
   1936           password for the machine named by the site parameter.
   1937           For security reasons, such an id and password are not
   1938           specified as content-type parameters, but must be
   1939           obtained from the user.
   1940 
   1941    In addition, the following parameters are optional:
   1942 
   1943     (1)   DIRECTORY -- A directory from which the data named by
   1944           NAME should be retrieved.
   1945 
   1946     (2)   MODE -- A case-insensitive string indicating the mode
   1947           to be used when retrieving the information.  The valid
   1948           values for access-type "TFTP" are "NETASCII", "OCTET",
   1949           and "MAIL", as specified by the TFTP protocol [RFC-
   1950           783].  The valid values for access-type "FTP" are
   1951           "ASCII", "EBCDIC", "IMAGE", and "LOCALn" where "n" is a
   1952           decimal integer, typically 8.  These correspond to the
   1953           representation types "A" "E" "I" and "L n" as specified
   1954           by the FTP protocol [RFC-959].  Note that "BINARY" and
   1955           "TENEX" are not valid values for MODE and that "OCTET"
   1956           or "IMAGE" or "LOCAL8" should be used instead.  IF MODE
   1957           is not specified, the  default value is "NETASCII" for
   1958           TFTP and "ASCII" otherwise.
   1959 
   1960 
   1961 
   1962 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 35]
   1963 
   1964 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   1965 
   1966 
   1967 5.2.3.3.  The 'anon-ftp' Access-Type
   1968 
   1969    The "anon-ftp" access-type is identical to the "ftp" access type,
   1970    except that the user need not be asked to provide a name and password
   1971    for the specified site.  Instead, the ftp protocol will be used with
   1972    login "anonymous" and a password that corresponds to the user's mail
   1973    address.
   1974 
   1975 5.2.3.4.  The 'local-file' Access-Type
   1976 
   1977    An access-type of "local-file" indicates that the actual body is
   1978    accessible as a file on the local machine.  Two additional parameters
   1979    are defined for this access type:
   1980 
   1981     (1)   NAME -- The name of the file that contains the actual
   1982           body data.  This parameter is mandatory for the
   1983           "local-file" access-type.
   1984 
   1985     (2)   SITE -- A domain specifier for a machine or set of
   1986           machines that are known to have access to the data
   1987           file.  This optional parameter is used to describe the
   1988           locality of reference for the data, that is, the site
   1989           or sites at which the file is expected to be visible.
   1990           Asterisks may be used for wildcard matching to a part
   1991           of a domain name, such as "*.bellcore.com", to indicate
   1992           a set of machines on which the data should be directly
   1993           visible, while a single asterisk may be used to
   1994           indicate a file that is expected to be universally
   1995           available, e.g., via a global file system.
   1996 
   1997 5.2.3.5.  The 'mail-server' Access-Type
   1998 
   1999    The "mail-server" access-type indicates that the actual body is
   2000    available from a mail server.  Two additional parameters are defined
   2001    for this access-type:
   2002 
   2003     (1)   SERVER -- The addr-spec of the mail server from which
   2004           the actual body data can be obtained.  This parameter
   2005           is mandatory for the "mail-server" access-type.
   2006 
   2007     (2)   SUBJECT -- The subject that is to be used in the mail
   2008           that is sent to obtain the data.  Note that keying mail
   2009           servers on Subject lines is NOT recommended, but such
   2010           mail servers are known to exist.  This is an optional
   2011           parameter.
   2012 
   2013 
   2014 
   2015 
   2016 
   2017 
   2018 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 36]
   2019 
   2020 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   2021 
   2022 
   2023    Because mail servers accept a variety of syntaxes, some of which is
   2024    multiline, the full command to be sent to a mail server is not
   2025    included as a parameter in the content-type header field.  Instead,
   2026    it is provided as the "phantom body" when the media type is
   2027    "message/external-body" and the access-type is mail-server.
   2028 
   2029    Note that MIME does not define a mail server syntax.  Rather, it
   2030    allows the inclusion of arbitrary mail server commands in the phantom
   2031    body.  Implementations must include the phantom body in the body of
   2032    the message it sends to the mail server address to retrieve the
   2033    relevant data.
   2034 
   2035    Unlike other access-types, mail-server access is asynchronous and
   2036    will happen at an unpredictable time in the future.  For this reason,
   2037    it is important that there be a mechanism by which the returned data
   2038    can be matched up with the original "message/external-body" entity.
   2039    MIME mail servers must use the same Content-ID field on the returned
   2040    message that was used in the original "message/external-body"
   2041    entities, to facilitate such matching.
   2042 
   2043 5.2.3.6.  External-Body Security Issues
   2044 
   2045    "Message/external-body" entities give rise to two important security
   2046    issues:
   2047 
   2048     (1)   Accessing data via a "message/external-body" reference
   2049           effectively results in the message recipient performing
   2050           an operation that was specified by the message
   2051           originator.  It is therefore possible for the message
   2052           originator to trick a recipient into doing something
   2053           they would not have done otherwise.  For example, an
   2054           originator could specify a action that attempts
   2055           retrieval of material that the recipient is not
   2056           authorized to obtain, causing the recipient to
   2057           unwittingly violate some security policy.  For this
   2058           reason, user agents capable of resolving external
   2059           references must always take steps to describe the
   2060           action they are to take to the recipient and ask for
   2061           explicit permisssion prior to performing it.
   2062 
   2063           The 'mail-server' access-type is particularly
   2064           vulnerable, in that it causes the recipient to send a
   2065           new message whose contents are specified by the
   2066           original message's originator.  Given the potential for
   2067           abuse, any such request messages that are constructed
   2068           should contain a clear indication that they were
   2069           generated automatically (e.g. in a Comments: header
   2070           field) in an attempt to resolve a MIME
   2071 
   2072 
   2073 
   2074 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 37]
   2075 
   2076 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   2077 
   2078 
   2079           "message/external-body" reference.
   2080 
   2081     (2)   MIME will sometimes be used in environments that
   2082           provide some guarantee of message integrity and
   2083           authenticity.  If present, such guarantees may apply
   2084           only to the actual direct content of messages -- they
   2085           may or may not apply to data accessed through MIME's
   2086           "message/external-body" mechanism.  In particular, it
   2087           may be possible to subvert certain access mechanisms
   2088           even when the messaging system itself is secure.
   2089 
   2090           It should be noted that this problem exists either with
   2091           or without the availabilty of MIME mechanisms.  A
   2092           casual reference to an FTP site containing a document
   2093           in the text of a secure message brings up similar
   2094           issues -- the only difference is that MIME provides for
   2095           automatic retrieval of such material, and users may
   2096           place unwarranted trust is such automatic retrieval
   2097           mechanisms.
   2098 
   2099 5.2.3.7.  Examples and Further Explanations
   2100 
   2101    When the external-body mechanism is used in conjunction with the
   2102    "multipart/alternative" media type it extends the functionality of
   2103    "multipart/alternative" to include the case where the same entity is
   2104    provided in the same format but via different accces mechanisms.
   2105    When this is done the originator of the message must order the parts
   2106    first in terms of preferred formats and then by preferred access
   2107    mechanisms.  The recipient's viewer should then evaluate the list
   2108    both in terms of format and access mechanisms.
   2109 
   2110    With the emerging possibility of very wide-area file systems, it
   2111    becomes very hard to know in advance the set of machines where a file
   2112    will and will not be accessible directly from the file system.
   2113    Therefore it may make sense to provide both a file name, to be tried
   2114    directly, and the name of one or more sites from which the file is
   2115    known to be accessible.  An implementation can try to retrieve remote
   2116    files using FTP or any other protocol, using anonymous file retrieval
   2117    or prompting the user for the necessary name and password.  If an
   2118    external body is accessible via multiple mechanisms, the sender may
   2119    include multiple entities of type "message/external-body" within the
   2120    body parts of an enclosing "multipart/alternative" entity.
   2121 
   2122    However, the external-body mechanism is not intended to be limited to
   2123    file retrieval, as shown by the mail-server access-type.  Beyond
   2124    this, one can imagine, for example, using a video server for external
   2125    references to video clips.
   2126 
   2127 
   2128 
   2129 
   2130 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 38]
   2131 
   2132 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   2133 
   2134 
   2135    The embedded message header fields which appear in the body of the
   2136    "message/external-body" data must be used to declare the media type
   2137    of the external body if it is anything other than plain US-ASCII
   2138    text, since the external body does not have a header section to
   2139    declare its type.  Similarly, any Content-transfer-encoding other
   2140    than "7bit" must also be declared here.  Thus a complete
   2141    "message/external-body" message, referring to an object in PostScript
   2142    format, might look like this:
   2143 
   2144      From: Whomever
   2145      To: Someone
   2146      Date: Whenever
   2147      Subject: whatever
   2148      MIME-Version: 1.0
   2149      Message-ID: <id1@host.com>
   2150      Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=42
   2151      Content-ID: <id001@guppylake.bellcore.com>
   2152 
   2153      --42
   2154      Content-Type: message/external-body; name="BodyFormats.ps";
   2155                    site="thumper.bellcore.com"; mode="image";
   2156                    access-type=ANON-FTP; directory="pub";
   2157                    expiration="Fri, 14 Jun 1991 19:13:14 -0400 (EDT)"
   2158 
   2159      Content-type: application/postscript
   2160      Content-ID: <id42@guppylake.bellcore.com>
   2161 
   2162      --42
   2163      Content-Type: message/external-body; access-type=local-file;
   2164                    name="/u/nsb/writing/rfcs/RFC-MIME.ps";
   2165                    site="thumper.bellcore.com";
   2166                    expiration="Fri, 14 Jun 1991 19:13:14 -0400 (EDT)"
   2167 
   2168      Content-type: application/postscript
   2169      Content-ID: <id42@guppylake.bellcore.com>
   2170 
   2171      --42
   2172      Content-Type: message/external-body;
   2173                    access-type=mail-server
   2174                    server="listserv@bogus.bitnet";
   2175                    expiration="Fri, 14 Jun 1991 19:13:14 -0400 (EDT)"
   2176 
   2177      Content-type: application/postscript
   2178      Content-ID: <id42@guppylake.bellcore.com>
   2179 
   2180      get RFC-MIME.DOC
   2181 
   2182      --42--
   2183 
   2184 
   2185 
   2186 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 39]
   2187 
   2188 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   2189 
   2190 
   2191    Note that in the above examples, the default Content-transfer-
   2192    encoding of "7bit" is assumed for the external postscript data.
   2193 
   2194    Like the "message/partial" type, the "message/external-body" media
   2195    type is intended to be transparent, that is, to convey the data type
   2196    in the external body rather than to convey a message with a body of
   2197    that type.  Thus the headers on the outer and inner parts must be
   2198    merged using the same rules as for "message/partial".  In particular,
   2199    this means that the Content-type and Subject fields are overridden,
   2200    but the From field is preserved.
   2201 
   2202    Note that since the external bodies are not transported along with
   2203    the external body reference, they need not conform to transport
   2204    limitations that apply to the reference itself. In particular,
   2205    Internet mail transports may impose 7bit and line length limits, but
   2206    these do not automatically apply to binary external body references.
   2207    Thus a Content-Transfer-Encoding is not generally necessary, though
   2208    it is permitted.
   2209 
   2210    Note that the body of a message of type "message/external-body" is
   2211    governed by the basic syntax for an RFC 822 message.  In particular,
   2212    anything before the first consecutive pair of CRLFs is header
   2213    information, while anything after it is body information, which is
   2214    ignored for most access-types.
   2215 
   2216 5.2.4.  Other Message Subtypes
   2217 
   2218    MIME implementations must in general treat unrecognized subtypes of
   2219    "message" as being equivalent to "application/octet-stream".
   2220 
   2221    Future subtypes of "message" intended for use with email should be
   2222    restricted to "7bit" encoding. A type other than "message" should be
   2223    used if restriction to "7bit" is not possible.
   2224 
   2225 6.  Experimental Media Type Values
   2226 
   2227    A media type value beginning with the characters "X-" is a private
   2228    value, to be used by consenting systems by mutual agreement.  Any
   2229    format without a rigorous and public definition must be named with an
   2230    "X-" prefix, and publicly specified values shall never begin with
   2231    "X-".  (Older versions of the widely used Andrew system use the "X-
   2232    BE2" name, so new systems should probably choose a different name.)
   2233 
   2234    In general, the use of "X-" top-level types is strongly discouraged.
   2235    Implementors should invent subtypes of the existing types whenever
   2236    possible. In many cases, a subtype of "application" will be more
   2237    appropriate than a new top-level type.
   2238 
   2239 
   2240 
   2241 
   2242 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 40]
   2243 
   2244 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   2245 
   2246 
   2247 7.  Summary
   2248 
   2249    The five discrete media types provide provide a standardized
   2250    mechanism for tagging entities as "audio", "image", or several other
   2251    kinds of data. The composite "multipart" and "message" media types
   2252    allow mixing and hierarchical structuring of entities of different
   2253    types in a single message. A distinguished parameter syntax allows
   2254    further specification of data format details, particularly the
   2255    specification of alternate character sets.  Additional optional
   2256    header fields provide mechanisms for certain extensions deemed
   2257    desirable by many implementors. Finally, a number of useful media
   2258    types are defined for general use by consenting user agents, notably
   2259    "message/partial" and "message/external-body".
   2260 
   2261 9.  Security Considerations
   2262 
   2263    Security issues are discussed in the context of the
   2264    "application/postscript" type, the "message/external-body" type, and
   2265    in RFC 2048.  Implementors should pay special attention to the
   2266    security implications of any media types that can cause the remote
   2267    execution of any actions in the recipient's environment.  In such
   2268    cases, the discussion of the "application/postscript" type may serve
   2269    as a model for considering other media types with remote execution
   2270    capabilities.
   2271 
   2272 
   2273 
   2274 
   2275 
   2276 
   2277 
   2278 
   2279 
   2280 
   2281 
   2282 
   2283 
   2284 
   2285 
   2286 
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   2298 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 41]
   2299 
   2300 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   2301 
   2302 
   2303 9.  Authors' Addresses
   2304 
   2305    For more information, the authors of this document are best contacted
   2306    via Internet mail:
   2307 
   2308    Ned Freed
   2309    Innosoft International, Inc.
   2310    1050 East Garvey Avenue South
   2311    West Covina, CA 91790
   2312    USA
   2313 
   2314    Phone: +1 818 919 3600
   2315    Fax:   +1 818 919 3614
   2316    EMail: ned@innosoft.com
   2317 
   2318 
   2319    Nathaniel S. Borenstein
   2320    First Virtual Holdings
   2321    25 Washington Avenue
   2322    Morristown, NJ 07960
   2323    USA
   2324 
   2325    Phone: +1 201 540 8967
   2326    Fax:   +1 201 993 3032
   2327    EMail: nsb@nsb.fv.com
   2328 
   2329 
   2330    MIME is a result of the work of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   2331    Working Group on RFC 822 Extensions.  The chairman of that group,
   2332    Greg Vaudreuil, may be reached at:
   2333 
   2334    Gregory M. Vaudreuil
   2335    Octel Network Services
   2336    17080 Dallas Parkway
   2337    Dallas, TX 75248-1905
   2338    USA
   2339 
   2340    EMail: Greg.Vaudreuil@Octel.Com
   2341 
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   2354 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 42]
   2355 
   2356 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   2357 
   2358 
   2359 Appendix A -- Collected Grammar
   2360 
   2361    This appendix contains the complete BNF grammar for all the syntax
   2362    specified by this document.
   2363 
   2364    By itself, however, this grammar is incomplete.  It refers by name to
   2365    several syntax rules that are defined by RFC 822.  Rather than
   2366    reproduce those definitions here, and risk unintentional differences
   2367    between the two, this document simply refers the reader to RFC 822
   2368    for the remaining definitions. Wherever a term is undefined, it
   2369    refers to the RFC 822 definition.
   2370 
   2371      boundary := 0*69<bchars> bcharsnospace
   2372 
   2373      bchars := bcharsnospace / " "
   2374 
   2375      bcharsnospace := DIGIT / ALPHA / "'" / "(" / ")" /
   2376                       "+" / "_" / "," / "-" / "." /
   2377                       "/" / ":" / "=" / "?"
   2378 
   2379      body-part := <"message" as defined in RFC 822, with all
   2380                    header fields optional, not starting with the
   2381                    specified dash-boundary, and with the
   2382                    delimiter not occurring anywhere in the
   2383                    body part.  Note that the semantics of a
   2384                    part differ from the semantics of a message,
   2385                    as described in the text.>
   2386 
   2387      close-delimiter := delimiter "--"
   2388 
   2389      dash-boundary := "--" boundary
   2390                       ; boundary taken from the value of
   2391                       ; boundary parameter of the
   2392                       ; Content-Type field.
   2393 
   2394      delimiter := CRLF dash-boundary
   2395 
   2396      discard-text := *(*text CRLF)
   2397                      ; May be ignored or discarded.
   2398 
   2399      encapsulation := delimiter transport-padding
   2400                       CRLF body-part
   2401 
   2402      epilogue := discard-text
   2403 
   2404      multipart-body := [preamble CRLF]
   2405                        dash-boundary transport-padding CRLF
   2406                        body-part *encapsulation
   2407 
   2408 
   2409 
   2410 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 43]
   2411 
   2412 RFC 2046                      Media Types                  November 1996
   2413 
   2414 
   2415                        close-delimiter transport-padding
   2416                        [CRLF epilogue]
   2417 
   2418      preamble := discard-text
   2419 
   2420      transport-padding := *LWSP-char
   2421                           ; Composers MUST NOT generate
   2422                           ; non-zero length transport
   2423                           ; padding, but receivers MUST
   2424                           ; be able to handle padding
   2425                           ; added by message transports.
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   2466 Freed & Borenstein          Standards Track                    [Page 44]
   2467