Almost all files are assigned to a specific mime type, which describes whether the file is executable, whether it is a document, an image, a music or video file, etc. However, within such categories it also provides information about the specific file format. So each mime type has the form category/format, e.g. for shell scripts application/x-shellscript ('x' stands for executable), for PDF files application/pdf, for HTML files text/html, for PNG files image/png, for MP3 files audio/mpeg and for MP4 files video/mp4.

In most cases, file extensions can be clearly assigned to mime types, e.g. application/pdf: *.pdf, image/png: *.png etc. However, sometimes several file extensions are assigned to a common mime type, such as e.g. text/html: *.htm, *.html or image/jpeg: *.jpeg, *.jpg. A specific icon image can be specified for a mime type, so that all files of this mime type, even if they have different extensions, show the same icon image e.g. in the file manager. You also define a short comment for a mime type, e.g. for text/plain the comment "plain text document", as well as a default application for all files of this type.

An overview of the most important mime types can be found in the files /usr/share/help/C/Starbuntu/extensions_-_mime-types.pdf (organized by file extension) and /usr/share/help/C/Starbuntu/mime-types_-_extensions.pdf (organized by mime type).

In Starbuntu, the common mime types are of course predefined, located in the folder /usr/share/mime. Nevertheless, defining a new mime type can be useful. The following mime types have been added in Starbuntu:

application/vnd.efi.iso: for the CD images *.iso, so that they can be opened with a click using the Starbuntu program automount
application/list: for the Starbuntu lists *.lst, so that they can be opened with a click using the Starbuntu program multimenu
application/page: for the XML help files *.page, so that they can be opened with a click using the yelp program
application/x-mswinurl: for the Starbuntu references *.url, so that they can be opened with a click using the Starbuntu program display-url

Beyond that the Starbuntu program create-new-mime allows you to easily add additional mime types, which would otherwise be quite time-consuming and complex. Please note that only the categories 'application', 'audio', 'font', 'image', 'model', 'text', 'video' and some others are permitted for the front part of the mime type, while its back part, i.e. the respective format, should correspond to the file extension associated with the mime type. Since the program create-new-mime intervenes in the system, it requires root privileges.

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