# phpman > perldoc > LWP::MediaTypes

## NAME
    [LWP::MediaTypes](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/LWP%3A%3AMediaTypes/markdown) - guess media type for a file or a URL

## SYNOPSIS
     use [LWP::MediaTypes](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/LWP%3A%3AMediaTypes/markdown) qw(guess_media_type);
     $type = guess_media_type("/tmp/foo.gif");

## DESCRIPTION
    This module provides functions for handling media (also known as MIME) types and encodings. The
    mapping from file extensions to media types is defined by the media.types file. If the
    ~/.media.types file exists it is used instead. For backwards compatibility we will also look for
    ~/.mime.types.

    The following functions are exported by default:

### guess_media_type
### guess_media_type
### guess_media_type
        This function tries to guess media type and encoding for a file or objects that support the
        a "path" or "filename" method, eg, URI or [File::Temp](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/File%3A%3ATemp/markdown) objects. When an object does not
        support either method, it will be stringified to determine the filename. It returns the
        content type, which is a string like "text/html". In array context it also returns any
        content encodings applied (in the order used to encode the file). You can pass a URI object
        reference, instead of the file name.

        If the type can not be deduced from looking at the file name, then guess_media_type() will
        let the "-T" Perl operator take a look. If this works (and "-T" returns a TRUE value) then
        we return *text/plain* as the type, otherwise we return *application/octet-stream* as the
        type.

        The optional second argument should be a reference to a [HTTP::Headers](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/HTTP%3A%3AHeaders/markdown) object or any object
        that implements the $obj->header method in a similar way. When it is present the values of
        the 'Content-Type' and 'Content-Encoding' will be set for this header.

### media_suffix
        This function will return all suffixes that can be used to denote the specified media
        type(s). Wildcard types can be used. In a scalar context it will return the first suffix
        found. Examples:

          @suffixes = media_suffix('image/*', 'audio/basic');
          $suffix = media_suffix('text/html');

    The following functions are only exported by explicit request:

### add_type
        Associate a list of file extensions with the given media type. Example:

            add_type("x-world/x-vrml" => qw(wrl vrml));

### add_encoding
        Associate a list of file extensions with an encoding type. Example:

         add_encoding("x-gzip" => "gz");

### read_media_types
        Parse media types files and add the type mappings found there. Example:

            read_media_types("conf/mime.types");

## COPYRIGHT
    Copyright 1995-1999 Gisle Aas.

    This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as
    Perl itself.