Both

HTTP Content-Type Header

Indicates the media type (MIME type) of the resource being sent. Tells the client how to interpret the response body.

Purpose

Essential header that tells the receiver the format of the data — JSON, HTML, XML, binary, etc.

Content-Type: application/json Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=---123 Content-Type: application/xml

Code Examples

See how to use the Content-Type header in different tools and languages.

curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST -d '{"name":"John"}' https://api.example.com/users
curl -I https://api.example.com/page
# Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8

Related Headers

Accept

Informs the server about the media types the client can process in the response. The server uses content negotiation to select one of the proposed formats.

Content-Encoding

Indicates which compression algorithm was applied to the response body. The client must use the same algorithm to decompress the data.

Content-Length

Indicates the size of the response body in bytes. Helps the client know how much data to expect and when the response is complete.

Content-Disposition

Indicates how the response content should be displayed. Can suggest a filename for download or indicate inline display.

Test Your APIs

API Response Time Checker

Test your APIs and inspect response headers in real-time

HTTP Headers Reference

Complete reference of all HTTP request and response headers

content-type headerhttp content-typehttp headers guide