MIME Type

text/css

Web Asset

Standard MIME type for Cascading Style Sheets used to style web pages.

MIME type reference, HTTP example, browser usage, common mistakes, and related content.

What is the text/css MIME type?

The MIME type text/css is used to tell browsers, APIs, and servers how a file or response body should be interpreted.

MIME stands for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, and MIME types are now a standard part of HTTP responses and web content delivery.

When a browser or client receives a response with text/css, it uses that information to decide how the content should be processed, rendered, downloaded, or executed.

Example

Content-Type: text/css

HTTP example

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/css
Content-Length: 1256

Common file extensions

.css

Common use cases

Website styling
External stylesheets
Frontend assets

Common mistakes

Using the wrong MIME type for the file being served
Returning text/plain instead of text/css
Forgetting required parameters like charset when relevant
Using a deprecated MIME type in older server configurations
Serving assets with a mismatched Content-Type header, causing browser parsing issues

How browsers use it

Browsers use the Content-Type response header to decide how a response should be handled. For example, HTML is rendered as a page, CSS is parsed as styles, JavaScript is executed as script, and images are displayed visually. If the MIME type is incorrect, the browser may refuse to load the file correctly or may treat it as plain text or a download instead.

Browser support

Universal browser support. Browsers expect CSS files to be served with text/css.

Developer note

If CSS is served with the wrong MIME type, browsers may refuse to apply it.

Related MIME types

text/html application/javascript font/woff2