I try to find which MIME type corresponds to the each extension and I get ambiguous results.
According to webdesign.about.com the correct MIME for exe
is: application/octet-stream
According to freeformatter.com the correct MIME for exe
is: application/x-msdownload
and it says that application/octet-stream
is MIME for bin
extension.
According to iana.org the correct MIME for exe
(or something called vnd.microsoft.portable-executable as I don't see exe there) is: application/vnd.microsoft.portable-executable
Which website is the most accurate because I don't know what kind of content type value I should expect on the server site in the HTTP header.
MIME stands for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions. It's a way of identifying files on the Internet according to their nature and format. For example, using the Content-type header value defined in a HTTP response, the browser can open the file with the proper extension/plugin.
application/vnd.microsoft.portable-executable is a registered MIME type and its description matches what you want to use it for.
The x-
prefix in application/x-msdownload indicates that it is experimental so it should generally be avoided: Especially if something standard is available as it in in this case.
application/octet-stream is for arbitary collections of bytes. It does match an executable file, but it isn't as specific as application/vnd.microsoft.portable-executable.
Use application/vnd.microsoft.portable-executable.
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