Question

There are many "standards" for the JSON content type:

application/json application/x-javascript text/javascript text/x-javascript text/x-json 

Which one do I use, and where? I assume security and browser support issues are a factor.

Related: What MIME type if JSON is being returned by a REST API?

Answer 1

For JSON text:

application/json 

The MIME media type for JSON text is application/json. The default encoding is UTF-8. ^{(Source: RFC 4627)}

For JSONP (runnable JavaScript) with callback:

application/javascript 

Here are some blog posts that were mentioned in the relevant comments:

• Why you shouldn’t use text/html for JSON
• Internet Explorer sometimes has issues with application/json
• A rather complete list of Mimetypes and what to use them for
• The official mime type list at IANA from @gnrfan’s answer below