RFC 2387 (rfc2387) - Page 1 of 10
The MIME Multipart/Related Content-type
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group E. Levinson
Request for Comments: 2387 August 1998
Obsoletes: 2112
Category: Standards Track
The MIME Multipart/Related Content-type
Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1998). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
The Multipart/Related content-type provides a common mechanism for
representing objects that are aggregates of related MIME body parts.
This document defines the Multipart/Related content-type and provides
examples of its use.
1. Introduction
Several applications of MIME, including MIME-PEM, and MIME-Macintosh
and other proposals, require multiple body parts that make sense only
in the aggregate. The present approach to these compound objects has
been to define specific multipart subtypes for each new object. In
keeping with the MIME philosophy of having one mechanism to achieve
the same goal for different purposes, this document describes a
single mechanism for such aggregate or compound objects.
The Multipart/Related content-type addresses the MIME representation
of compound objects. The object is categorized by a "type"
parameter. Additional parameters are provided to indicate a specific
starting body part or root and auxiliary information which may be
required when unpacking or processing the object.
Multipart/Related MIME entities may contain Content-Disposition
headers that provide suggestions for the storage and display of a
body part. Multipart/Related processing takes precedence over
Content-Disposition; the interaction between them is discussed in
section 4.
Levinson Standards Track