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rfc:rfc6838

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) N. Freed Request for Comments: 6838 Oracle BCP: 13 J. Klensin Obsoletes: 4288 Category: Best Current Practice T. Hansen ISSN: 2070-1721 AT&T Laboratories

                                                          January 2013
       Media Type Specifications and Registration Procedures

Abstract

 This document defines procedures for the specification and
 registration of media types for use in HTTP, MIME, and other Internet
 protocols.

Status of This Memo

 This memo documents an Internet Best Current Practice.
 This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
 (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
 received public review and has been approved for publication by the
 Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Further information on
 BCPs is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.
 Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
 and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
 http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6838.

Copyright Notice

 Copyright (c) 2013 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
 document authors.  All rights reserved.
 This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
 Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
 (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
 publication of this document.  Please review these documents
 carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
 to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
 include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
 the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
 described in the Simplified BSD License.

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 1] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

Table of Contents

 1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   1.1.  Historical Note  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   1.2.  Conventions Used in This Document  . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
 2.  Media Type Registration Preliminaries  . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
 3.  Registration Trees and Subtype Names . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   3.1.  Standards Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   3.2.  Vendor Tree  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   3.3.  Personal or Vanity Tree  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   3.4.  Unregistered x. Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   3.5.  Additional Registration Trees  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
 4.  Registration Requirements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   4.1.  Functionality Requirement  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
   4.2.  Naming Requirements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
     4.2.1.  Text Media Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
     4.2.2.  Image Media Types  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     4.2.3.  Audio Media Types  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     4.2.4.  Video Media Types  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     4.2.5.  Application Media Types  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
     4.2.6.  Multipart and Message Media Types  . . . . . . . . . . 11
     4.2.7.  Additional Top-Level Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
     4.2.8.  Structured Syntax Name Suffixes  . . . . . . . . . . . 12
     4.2.9.  Deprecated Aliases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
   4.3.  Parameter Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
   4.4.  Canonicalization and Format Requirements . . . . . . . . . 14
   4.5.  Interchange Recommendations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
   4.6.  Security Requirements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
   4.7.  Requirements Specific to XML Media Types . . . . . . . . . 16
   4.8.  Encoding Requirements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   4.9.  Usage and Implementation Non-Requirements  . . . . . . . . 17
   4.10. Publication Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
   4.11. Fragment Identifier Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
   4.12. Additional Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
 5.  Media Type Registration Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
   5.1.  Preliminary Community Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
   5.2.  Submit Request to IANA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
     5.2.1.  Provisional Registrations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
   5.3.  Review and Approval  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
   5.4.  Comments on Media Type Registrations . . . . . . . . . . . 21
   5.5.  Change Procedures  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
   5.6.  Registration Template  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
 6.  Structured Syntax Suffix Registration Procedures . . . . . . . 23
   6.1.  Change Procedures  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
   6.2.  Structured Syntax Suffix Registration Template . . . . . . 24
 7.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
 8.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
 9.  Acknowledgments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 2] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

 10. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
   10.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
   10.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
 Appendix A.  Grandfathered Media Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
 Appendix B.  Changes since RFC 4288  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

1. Introduction

 Recent Internet protocols have been carefully designed to be easily
 extensible in certain areas.  In particular, many protocols,
 including but not limited to HTTP [RFC2616] and MIME [RFC2045], are
 capable of carrying arbitrary labeled content.
 The mechanism used to label such content is a media type, consisting
 of a top-level type and a subtype, which is further structured into
 trees.  Optionally, media types can define companion data, known as
 parameters.
 A registration process is needed for these labels, so that the set of
 such values are defined in a reasonably orderly, well-specified, and
 public manner.
 This document specifies the criteria for media type registrations and
 defines the procedures to be used to register media types (Section 5)
 as well as media type structured suffixes (Section 6) in the Internet
 Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) central registry.
 The location of the media type registry managed by these procedures
 is:
   http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/

1.1. Historical Note

 The media type registration process was initially defined for
 registering media types for use in the context of the asynchronous
 Internet mail environment.  In this mail environment, there is a need
 to limit the number of possible media types, to increase the
 likelihood of interoperability when the capabilities of the remote
 mail system are not known.  As media types are used in new
 environments in which the proliferation of media types is not a
 hindrance to interoperability, the original procedure proved
 excessively restrictive and had to be generalized.  This was
 initially done in [RFC2048], but the procedure defined there was
 still part of the MIME document set.  The media type specification
 and registration procedure is now a separate document, to make it
 clear that it is independent of MIME.

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 3] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

 It may be desirable to restrict the use of media types to specific
 environments or to prohibit their use in other environments.  This
 specification incorporates such restrictions into media type
 registrations in a systematic way.  See Section 4.9 for additional
 discussion.

1.2. Conventions Used in This Document

 The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
 "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
 document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119] when they
 appear in ALL CAPS.  They may also appear in lower or mixed case as
 plain English words, without any normative meaning.
 This specification makes use of the Augmented Backus-Naur Form (ABNF)
 [RFC5234] notation, including the core rules defined in Appendix B of
 that document.

2. Media Type Registration Preliminaries

 Registration of a new media type or types starts with the
 construction of a registration proposal.  Registration may occur
 within several different registration trees that have different
 requirements, as discussed below.  In general, a new registration
 proposal is circulated and reviewed in a fashion appropriate to the
 tree involved.  The media type is then registered if the proposal is
 acceptable.  The following sections describe the requirements and
 procedures used for each of the different registration trees.

3. Registration Trees and Subtype Names

 In order to increase the efficiency and flexibility of the
 registration process, different structures of subtype names can be
 registered to accommodate the different natural requirements for,
 e.g., a subtype that will be recommended for wide support and
 implementation by the Internet community, or a subtype that is used
 to move files associated with proprietary software.  The following
 subsections define registration "trees" that are distinguished by the
 use of faceted names, e.g., subtype names that begin with a "tree."
 prefix.  Note that some media types defined prior to this document do
 not conform to the naming conventions described below.  See Appendix
 A for a discussion of them.

3.1. Standards Tree

 The standards tree is intended for types of general interest to the
 Internet community.  Registrations in the standards tree MUST be
 either:

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 4] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

 1.  in the case of registrations associated with IETF specifications,
     approved directly by the IESG, or
 2.  registered by a recognized standards-related organization using
     the "Specification Required" IANA registration policy [RFC5226]
     (which implies Expert Review).
 The first procedure is used for registrations from IETF Consensus
 documents, or in rare cases when registering a grandfathered (see
 Appendix A) and/or otherwise incomplete registration is in the
 interest of the Internet community.  The registration proposal MUST
 be published as an RFC.  When the registration RFC is in the IETF
 stream, it must have IETF Consensus, which can be attained with a
 status of Standards Track, BCP, Informational, or Experimental.
 Registrations published in non-IETF RFC streams are also allowed and
 require IESG approval.  A registration can be either in a stand-alone
 "registration only" RFC or incorporated into a more general
 specification of some sort.
 In the second case, the IESG makes a one-time decision on whether the
 registration submitter represents a recognized standards-related
 organization; after that, a Media Types Reviewer (Designated Expert
 or a group of Designated Experts) performs the Expert Review as
 specified in this document.  Subsequent submissions from the same
 source do not involve the IESG.  The format MUST be described by a
 formal standards specification produced by the submitting standards-
 related organization.
 Media types in the standards tree MUST NOT have faceted names, unless
 they are grandfathered in using the process described in Appendix A.
 The "owner" of a media type registered in the standards tree is
 assumed to be the standards-related organization itself.
 Modification or alteration of the specification uses the same level
 of processing (e.g., a registration submitted on Standards Track can
 be revised in another Standards Track RFC, but cannot be revised in
 an Informational RFC) required for the initial registration.
 Standards-tree registrations from recognized standards-related
 organizations are submitted directly to the IANA, where they will
 undergo Expert Review [RFC5226] prior to approval.  In this case, the
 Expert Reviewer(s) will, among other things, ensure that the required
 specification provides adequate documentation.

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 5] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

3.2. Vendor Tree

 The vendor tree is used for media types associated with publicly
 available products.  "Vendor" and "producer" are construed very
 broadly in this context and are considered equivalent.  Note that
 industry consortia as well as non-commercial entities that do not
 qualify as recognized standards-related organizations can quite
 appropriately register media types in the vendor tree.
 A registration may be placed in the vendor tree by anyone who needs
 to interchange files associated with some product or set of products.
 However, the registration properly belongs to the vendor or
 organization producing the software that employs the type being
 registered, and that vendor or organization can at any time elect to
 assert ownership of a registration done by a third party in order to
 correct or update it.  See Section 5.5 for additional information.
 When a third party registers a type on behalf of someone else, both
 entities SHOULD be noted in the Change Controller field in the
 registration.  One possible format for this would be "Foo, on behalf
 of Bar".
 Vendor-tree registrations will be distinguished by the leading facet
 "vnd.".  That may be followed, at the discretion of the registrant,
 by either a media subtype name from a well-known producer (e.g.,
 "vnd.mudpie") or by an IANA-approved designation of the producer's
 name that is followed by a media type or product designation (e.g.,
 vnd.bigcompany.funnypictures).
 While public exposure and review of media types to be registered in
 the vendor tree are not required, using the media-types@iana.org
 mailing list for review is encouraged, to improve the quality of
 those specifications.  Registrations in the vendor tree may be
 submitted directly to the IANA, where they will undergo Expert Review
 [RFC5226] prior to approval.

3.3. Personal or Vanity Tree

 Registrations for media types created experimentally or as part of
 products that are not distributed commercially may be registered in
 the personal or vanity tree.  The registrations are distinguished by
 the leading facet "prs.".
 The owner of "personal" registrations and associated specifications
 is the person or entity making the registration, or one to whom
 responsibility has been transferred as described below.

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 6] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

 While public exposure and review of media types to be registered in
 the personal tree are not required, using the media-types@iana.org
 mailing list (see Section 5.1) for review is encouraged, to improve
 the quality of those specifications.  Registrations in the personal
 tree may be submitted directly to the IANA, where they will undergo
 Expert Review [RFC5226] prior to approval.

3.4. Unregistered x. Tree

 Subtype names with "x." as the first facet may be used for types
 intended exclusively for use in private, local environments.  Types
 in this tree cannot be registered and are intended for use only with
 the active agreement of the parties exchanging them.
 However, with the simplified registration procedures described above
 for vendor and personal trees, it should rarely, if ever, be
 necessary to use unregistered types.  Therefore, use of types in the
 "x." tree is strongly discouraged.
 Note that types with names beginning with "x-" are no longer
 considered to be members of this tree (see [RFC6648]).  Also note
 that if a generally useful and widely deployed type incorrectly ends
 up with an "x-" name prefix, it MAY be registered using its current
 name in an alternative tree by following the procedure defined in
 Appendix A.

3.5. Additional Registration Trees

 From time to time and as required by the community, new top-level
 registration trees may be created by IETF Standards Action.  It is
 explicitly assumed that these trees may be created for external
 registration and management by well-known permanent organizations;
 for example, scientific societies may register media types specific
 to the sciences they cover.  In general, the quality of review of
 specifications for one of these additional registration trees is
 expected to be equivalent to registrations in the standards tree by a
 recognized standards-related organization.  When the IETF performs
 such review, it needs to consider the greater expertise of the
 requesting organization with respect to the subject media type.

4. Registration Requirements

 Media type registrations are all expected to conform to various
 requirements laid out in the following sections.  Note that
 requirement specifics sometimes vary depending on the registration
 tree, again as detailed in the following sections.

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 7] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

4.1. Functionality Requirement

 Media types MUST function as actual media formats.  Registration of
 things that are better thought of as a transfer encoding, as a
 charset, or as a collection of separate entities of another type, is
 not allowed.  For example, although applications exist to decode the
 base64 transfer encoding [RFC2045], base64 cannot be registered as a
 media type.
 This requirement applies regardless of the registration tree
 involved.

4.2. Naming Requirements

 All registered media types MUST be assigned top-level type and
 subtype names.  The combination of these names serves to uniquely
 identify the media type, and the subtype name facet (or the absence
 of one) identifies the registration tree.  Both top-level type and
 subtype names are case-insensitive.
 Type and subtype names MUST conform to the following ABNF:
   type-name = restricted-name
   subtype-name = restricted-name
   restricted-name = restricted-name-first *126restricted-name-chars
   restricted-name-first  = ALPHA / DIGIT
   restricted-name-chars  = ALPHA / DIGIT / "!" / "#" /
                            "$" / "&" / "-" / "^" / "_"
   restricted-name-chars =/ "." ; Characters before first dot always
                                ; specify a facet name
   restricted-name-chars =/ "+" ; Characters after last plus always
                                ; specify a structured syntax suffix
 Note that this syntax is somewhat more restrictive than what is
 allowed by the ABNF in Section 5.1 of [RFC2045] or Section 4.2 of
 [RFC4288].  Also note that while this syntax allows names of up to
 127 characters, implementation limits may make such long names
 problematic.  For this reason, <type-name> and <subtype-name> SHOULD
 be limited to 64 characters.
 Although the name syntax treats "." as equivalent to any other
 character, characters before any initial "." always specify the
 registration facet.  Note that this means that facet-less standards-
 tree registrations cannot use periods in the subtype name.

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 8] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

 Similarly, the final "+" in a subtype name introduces a structured
 syntax specifier suffix.  Structured syntax suffix requirements are
 specified in Section 4.2.8.
 While it is possible for a given media type to be assigned additional
 names, the use of different names to identify the same media type is
 discouraged.
 These requirements apply regardless of the registration tree
 involved.
 The choice of top-level type MUST take into account the nature of
 media type involved.  New subtypes of top-level types MUST conform to
 the restrictions of the top-level type, if any.  The following
 sections describe each of the initial set of top-level types and
 their associated restrictions.  Additionally, various protocols,
 including but not limited to HTTP and MIME, MAY impose additional
 restrictions on the media types they can transport.  (See [RFC2046]
 for additional information on the restrictions MIME imposes.)

4.2.1. Text Media Types

 The "text" top-level type is intended for sending material that is
 principally textual in form.
 Many subtypes of text, notably including the subtype "text/plain",
 which is a generic subtype for plain text defined in [RFC2046],
 define a "charset" parameter.  If a "charset" parameter is defined
 for a particular subtype of text, it MUST be used to specify a
 charset name defined in accordance to the procedures laid out in
 [RFC2978].
 As specified in [RFC6657], a "charset" parameter SHOULD NOT be
 specified when charset information is transported inside the payload
 (e.g., as in "text/xml").
 If a "charset" parameter is specified, it SHOULD be a required
 parameter, eliminating the options of specifying a default value.  If
 there is a strong reason for the parameter to be optional despite
 this advice, each subtype MAY specify its own default value, or
 alternatively, it MAY specify that there is no default value.
 Finally, the "UTF-8" charset [RFC3629] SHOULD be selected as the
 default.  See [RFC6657] for additional information on the use of
 "charset" parameters in conjunction with subtypes of text.
 Regardless of what approach is chosen, all new text/* registrations
 MUST clearly specify how the charset is determined; relying on the
 US-ASCII default defined in Section 4.1.2 of [RFC2046] is no longer

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 9] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

 permitted.  If explanatory text is needed, this SHOULD be placed in
 the additional information section of the registration.
 Plain text does not provide for or allow formatting commands, font
 attribute specifications, processing instructions, interpretation
 directives, or content markup.  Plain text is seen simply as a linear
 sequence of characters, possibly interrupted by line breaks or page
 breaks.  Plain text MAY allow the stacking of several characters in
 the same position in the text.  Plain text in scripts like Arabic and
 Hebrew may also include facilities that allow the arbitrary mixing of
 text segments with different writing directions.
 Beyond plain text, there are many formats for representing what might
 be known as "rich text".  An interesting characteristic of many such
 representations is that they are to some extent readable even without
 the software that interprets them.  It is useful to distinguish them,
 at the highest level, from such unreadable data as images, audio, or
 text represented in an unreadable form.  In the absence of
 appropriate interpretation software, it is reasonable to present
 subtypes of "text" to the user, while it is not reasonable to do so
 with most non-textual data.  Such formatted textual data can be
 represented using subtypes of "text".

4.2.2. Image Media Types

 A top-level type of "image" indicates that the content specifies one
 or more individual images.  The subtype names the specific image
 format.

4.2.3. Audio Media Types

 A top-level type of "audio" indicates that the content contains audio
 data.  The subtype names the specific audio format.

4.2.4. Video Media Types

 A top-level type of "video" indicates that the content specifies a
 time-varying-picture image, possibly with color and coordinated
 sound.  The term 'video' is used in its most generic sense, rather
 than with reference to any particular technology or format, and is
 not meant to preclude subtypes such as animated drawings encoded
 compactly.
 Note that although in general the mixing of multiple kinds of media
 in a single body is discouraged [RFC2046], it is recognized that many
 video formats include a representation for synchronized audio and/or
 text, and this is explicitly permitted for subtypes of "video".

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 10] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

4.2.5. Application Media Types

 The "application" top-level type is to be used for discrete data that
 do not fit under any of the other type names, and particularly for
 data to be processed by some type of application program.  This is
 information that must be processed by an application before it is
 viewable or usable by a user.  Expected uses for the "application"
 type name include but are not limited to file transfer, spreadsheets,
 presentations, scheduling data, and languages for "active"
 (computational) material.  (The last, in particular, can pose
 security problems that must be understood by implementors.  The
 "application/postscript" media type registration in [RFC2046]
 provides a good example of how to handle these issues.)
 For example, a meeting scheduler might define a standard
 representation for information about proposed meeting dates.  An
 intelligent user agent would use this information to conduct a dialog
 with the user, and might then send additional material based on that
 dialog.  More generally, there have been several "active" languages
 developed in which programs in a suitably specialized language are
 transported to a remote location and automatically run in the
 recipient's environment.  Such applications may be defined as
 subtypes of the "application" top-level type.
 The subtype of "application" will often either be the name or include
 part of the name of the application for which the data are intended.
 This does not mean, however, that any application program name may
 simply be used freely as a subtype of "application"; the subtype
 needs to be registered.

4.2.6. Multipart and Message Media Types

 Multipart and message are composite types; that is, they provide a
 means of encapsulating zero or more objects, each one a separate
 media type.
 All subtypes of multipart and message MUST conform to the syntax
 rules and other requirements specified in [RFC2046] and amended by
 Section 3.5 of [RFC6532].

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 11] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

4.2.7. Additional Top-Level Types

 In some cases, a new media type may not "fit" under any currently
 defined top-level type names.  Such cases are expected to be quite
 rare.  However, if such a case does arise, a new type name can be
 defined to accommodate it.  Definition of a new top-level type name
 MUST be done via a Standards Track RFC; no other mechanism can be
 used to define additional type names.

4.2.8. Structured Syntax Name Suffixes

 XML in MIME [RFC3023] defined the first such augmentation to the
 media type definition to additionally specify the underlying
 structure of that media type.  To quote:
    This document also standardizes a convention (using the suffix
    '+xml') for naming media types ... when those media types
    represent XML MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions)
    entities.
 That is, it specified a suffix (in that case, "+xml") to be appended
 to the base subtype name.
 Since this was published, the de facto practice has arisen for using
 this suffix convention for other well-known structuring syntaxes.  In
 particular, media types have been registered with suffixes such as
 "+der", "+fastinfoset", and "+json".  This specification formalizes
 this practice and sets up a registry for structured type name
 suffixes.
 The primary guideline for whether a structured type name suffix is
 registrable is that it be described by a readily available
 description, preferably within a document published by an established
 standards-related organization, and for which there's a reference
 that can be used in a Normative References section of an RFC.
 Media types that make use of a named structured syntax SHOULD use the
 appropriate registered "+suffix" for that structured syntax when they
 are registered.  By the same token, media types MUST NOT be given
 names incorporating suffixes for structured syntaxes they do not
 actually employ. "+suffix" constructs for as-yet unregistered
 structured syntaxes SHOULD NOT be used, given the possibility of
 conflicts with future suffix definitions.

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 12] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

4.2.9. Deprecated Aliases

 In some cases, a single media type may have been widely deployed
 prior to registration under multiple names.  In such cases, a
 preferred name MUST be chosen for the media type, and applications
 MUST use this to be compliant with the type's registration.  However,
 a list of deprecated aliases by which the type is known MAY be
 supplied as additional information in order to assist applications in
 processing the media type properly.

4.3. Parameter Requirements

 Media types MAY elect to use one or more media type parameters, or
 some parameters may be automatically made available to the media type
 by virtue of being a subtype of a content type that defines a set of
 parameters applicable to any of its subtypes.  In either case, the
 names, values, and meanings of any parameters MUST be fully specified
 when a media type is registered in the standards tree, and SHOULD be
 specified as completely as possible when media types are registered
 in the vendor or personal trees.
 Parameter names have the syntax as media type names and values:
     parameter-name = restricted-name
 Note that this syntax is somewhat more restrictive than what is
 allowed by the ABNF in [RFC2045] and amended by [RFC2231].
 Parameter names are case-insensitive and no meaning is attached to
 the order in which they appear.  It is an error for a specific
 parameter to be specified more than once.
 There is no defined syntax for parameter values.  Therefore,
 registrations MUST specify parameter value syntax.  Additionally,
 some transports impose restrictions on parameter value syntax, so
 care needs be taken to limit the use of potentially problematic
 syntaxes; e.g., pure binary valued parameters, while permitted in
 some protocols, are best avoided.
 Note that a protocol can impose further restrictions on parameter
 value syntax, depending on how it chooses to represent parameters.
 Both MIME [RFC2045] [RFC2231] and HTTP [RFC2045] [RFC5987] allow
 binary parameters as well as parameter values expressed in a specific
 charset, but other protocols may be less flexible.
 New parameters SHOULD NOT be defined as a way to introduce new
 functionality in types registered in the standards tree, although new
 parameters MAY be added to convey additional information that does

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 13] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

 not otherwise change existing functionality.  An example of this
 would be a "revision" parameter to indicate a revision level of an
 external specification such as JPEG.  Similar behavior is encouraged
 for media types registered in the vendor or personal trees, but is
 not required.
 Changes to parameters (including the introduction of new ones) is
 managed in the same manner as other changes to the media type; see
 Section 5.5.

4.4. Canonicalization and Format Requirements

 All registered media types MUST employ a single, canonical data
 format, regardless of registration tree.
 A permanent and readily available public specification of the format
 for the media type MUST exist for all types registered in the
 standards tree.  This specification MUST provide sufficient detail so
 that interoperability between independent implementations using the
 media type is possible.  This specification MUST at a minimum be
 referenced by, if it is not actually included in, the media type
 registration proposal itself.
 The specifications of format and processing particulars may or may
 not be publicly available for media types registered in the vendor
 and personal trees.  Such registrations are explicitly permitted to
 limit the information in the registration to which software and
 version produce or process such media types.  As such, references to
 or inclusion of format specifications in registrations is encouraged
 but not required.  Note, however, that the public availability of a
 meaningful specification will often make the difference between
 simply having a name reserved so that there are no conflicts with
 other uses and having the potential for other implementations of the
 media type and useful interoperation with them.
 Some media types involve the use of patented technology.  The
 registration of media types involving patented technology is
 specifically permitted.  However, the restrictions set forth in BCP
 79 [RFC3979] and BCP 78 [RFC5378] on the use of patented technology
 in IETF Standards Track protocols must be respected when the
 specification of a media type is part of a Standards Track protocol.
 In addition, other standards-related organizations making use of the
 standards tree may have their own rules regarding intellectual
 property that must be observed in their registrations.
 Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) disclosures for registrations in
 the vendor and personal trees are encouraged but not required.

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 14] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

4.5. Interchange Recommendations

 Ideally, media types will be defined so they interoperate across as
 many systems and applications as possible.  However, some media types
 will inevitably have problems interoperating across different
 platforms.  Problems with different versions, byte ordering, and
 specifics of gateway handling can and will arise.
 Universal interoperability of media types is not required, but known
 interoperability issues SHOULD be identified whenever possible.
 Publication of a media type does not require an exhaustive review of
 interoperability, and the interoperability considerations section is
 subject to continuing evaluation.
 The recommendations in this subsection apply regardless of the
 registration tree involved.

4.6. Security Requirements

 An analysis of security issues MUST be done for all types registered
 in the standards tree.  A similar analysis for media types registered
 in the vendor or personal trees is encouraged but not required.
 However, regardless of what security analysis has or has not been
 done, all descriptions of security issues MUST be as accurate as
 possible regardless of registration tree.  In particular, the
 security considerations MUST NOT state that there are "no security
 issues associated with this type".  Security considerations for types
 in the vendor or personal tree MAY say that "the security issues
 associated with this type have not been assessed".
 There is absolutely no requirement that media types registered in any
 tree be secure or completely free from risks.  Nevertheless, all
 known security risks MUST be identified in the registration of a
 media type, again regardless of registration tree.
 The security considerations section of all registrations is subject
 to continuing evaluation and modification, and in particular MAY be
 extended by use of the "comments on media types" mechanism described
 in Section 5.4 below.
 Some of the issues that need to be examined and described in a
 security analysis of a media type are:
 o  Complex media types may include provisions for directives that
    institute actions on a recipient's files or other resources.  In
    many cases, provision is made for originators to specify arbitrary
    actions in an unrestricted fashion that may then have devastating
    effects.  See the registration of the application/postscript media

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 15] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

    type in [RFC2046] for an example of such directives and how they
    can be described in a media type registration.
 o  Any security analysis MUST state whether or not they employ such
    "active content"; if they do, they MUST state what steps have been
    taken, or MUST be taken by applications of the media type, to
    protect users of the media type from harm.
 o  Complex media types may include provisions for directives that
    institute actions that, while not directly harmful to the
    recipient, may result in disclosure of information that either
    facilitates a subsequent attack or else violates a recipient's
    privacy in some way.  Again, the registration of the application/
    postscript media type illustrates how such directives can be
    handled.
 o  A media type that employs compression may provide an opportunity
    for sending a small amount of data that, when received and
    evaluated, expands enormously to consume all of the recipient's
    resources.  All media types SHOULD state whether or not they
    employ compression; if they do, they SHOULD discuss what steps
    need to be taken to avoid such attacks.
 o  A media type might be targeted for applications that require some
    sort of security assurance but don't provide the necessary
    security mechanisms themselves.  For example, a media type could
    be defined for storage of sensitive medical information that in
    turn requires external confidentiality and integrity protection
    services, or which is designed for use only within a secure
    environment.  Types SHOULD always document whether or not they
    need such services in their security considerations.

4.7. Requirements Specific to XML Media Types

 There are a number of additional requirements specific to the
 registration of XML media types.  These requirements are specified in
 [RFC3023].

4.8. Encoding Requirements

 Some transports impose restrictions on the type of data they can
 carry.  For example, Internet mail traditionally was limited to 7bit
 US-ASCII text.  Encoding schemes are often used to work around such
 transport limitations.

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 16] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

 It is therefore useful to note what sort of data a media type can
 consist of as part of its registration.  An "encoding considerations"
 field is provided for this purpose.  Possible values of this field
 are:
 7bit:  The content of the media type consists solely of CRLF-
    delimited 7bit US-ASCII text.
 8bit:  The content of the media type consists solely of CRLF-
    delimited 8bit text.
 binary:  The content consists of an unrestricted sequence of octets.
 framed:  The content consists of a series of frames or packets
    without internal framing or alignment indicators.  Additional out-
    of-band information is needed to interpret the data properly,
    including but not necessarily limited to knowledge of the
    boundaries between successive frames and knowledge of the
    transport mechanism.  Note that media types of this sort cannot
    simply be stored in a file or transported as a simple stream of
    octets; therefore, such media types are unsuitable for use in many
    traditional protocols.  A commonly used transport with framed
    encoding is the Real-time Transport Protocol, RTP.  Additional
    rules for framed encodings defined for transport using RTP are
    given in [RFC4855].
 Additional restrictions on 7bit and 8bit text are given in Section
 4.1.1 of [RFC2046].

4.9. Usage and Implementation Non-Requirements

 In the asynchronous mail environment, where information on the
 capabilities of the remote mail agent is frequently not available to
 the sender, maximum interoperability is attained by restricting the
 media types used to those "common" formats expected to be widely
 implemented.  This was asserted in the past as a reason to limit the
 number of possible media types, and resulted in a registration
 process with a significant hurdle and delay for those registering
 media types.
 However, the need for "common" media types does not require limiting
 the registration of new media types.  If a limited set of media types
 is recommended for a particular application, that should be asserted
 by a separate applicability statement specific for the application
 and/or environment.
 Therefore, universal support and implementation of a media type are
 NOT a requirement for registration.  However, if a media type is

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 17] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

 explicitly intended for limited use, this MUST be noted in its
 registration.  The "Restrictions on Usage" field is provided for this
 purpose.

4.10. Publication Requirements

 Media types registered in the standards tree by the IETF itself MUST
 be published as RFCs.  RFC publication of vendor and personal media
 type registrations is allowed but not required.  In all cases, the
 IANA will retain copies of all media type registrations and "publish"
 them as part of the media types registration tree itself.
 As stated previously, standards-tree registrations for media types
 defined in documents produced by other standards-related
 organizations MUST be described by a formal standards specification
 produced by that organization.  Additionally, any copyright on the
 registration template MUST allow the IANA to copy it into the IANA
 registry.
 Other than IETF registrations in the standards tree, the registration
 of a media type does not imply endorsement, approval, or
 recommendation by the IANA or the IETF or even certification that the
 specification is adequate.  To become an IETF standard, a protocol or
 data object must go through the IETF standards process.  While it
 provides additional assurances when it is appropriate, this is too
 difficult and too lengthy a process for the convenient registration
 of media types.
 The standards tree exists for media types that do require a
 substantive review and approval process in a recognized standards-
 related organization.  The vendor and personal trees exist for those
 media types that do not require such a process.  It is expected that
 applicability statements for particular applications will be
 published from time to time in the IETF, recommending implementation
 of, and support for, media types that have proven particularly useful
 in those contexts.
 As discussed above, registration of a top-level type requires
 Standards Action in the IETF and, hence, the publication of a RFC on
 the Standards Track.

4.11. Fragment Identifier Requirements

 Media type registrations can specify how applications should
 interpret fragment identifiers (specified in Section 3.5 of
 [RFC3986]) associated with the media type.

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 18] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

 Media types are encouraged to adopt fragment identifier schemes that
 are used with semantically similar media types.  In particular, media
 types that use a named structured syntax with a registered "+suffix"
 MUST follow whatever fragment identifier rules are given in the
 structured syntax suffix registration.

4.12. Additional Information

 Various sorts of optional information SHOULD be included in the
 specification of a media type if it is available:
 o  Magic number(s) (length, octet values).  Magic numbers are byte
    sequences that are always present at a given place in the file and
    thus can be used to identify entities as being of a given media
    type.
 o  File name extension(s) commonly used on one or more platforms to
    indicate that some file contains a given media type.
 o  Mac OS File Type code(s) (4 octets) used to label files containing
    a given media type.  Some discussion of Macintosh file type codes
    and their purpose can be found in [MacOSFileTypes].
 In the case of a registration in the standards tree, this additional
 information MAY be provided in the formal specification of the media
 type format.  It is suggested that this be done by incorporating the
 IANA media type registration form into the format specification
 itself.

5. Media Type Registration Procedures

 The media type registration procedure is not a formal standards
 process, but rather an administrative procedure intended to allow
 community comment and sanity checking without excessive time delay.
 Normal IETF processes need to be followed for all IETF registrations
 in the standards tree.  The posting of an Internet Draft is a
 necessary first step, followed by posting to the media-types@iana.org
 list as discussed below.

5.1. Preliminary Community Review

 Notice of a potential media type registration in the standards tree
 SHOULD be sent to the media-types@iana.org mailing list for review.
 This mailing list has been established for the purpose of reviewing
 proposed media and access types.  Registrations in other trees MAY be
 sent to the list for review as well; doing so is entirely OPTIONAL,
 but is strongly encouraged.

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 19] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

 The intent of the public posting to this list is to solicit comments
 and feedback on the choice of type/subtype name, the unambiguity of
 the references with respect to versions and external profiling
 information, and a review of any interoperability or security
 considerations.  The submitter may submit a revised registration
 proposal or abandon the registration completely and at any time.

5.2. Submit Request to IANA

 Media types registered in the standards tree by the IETF itself MUST
 be reviewed and approved by the IESG as part of the normal standards
 process.  Standards-tree registrations by recognized standards-
 related organizations as well as registrations in the vendor and
 personal trees are submitted directly to the IANA, unless other
 arrangements were made as part of a liaison agreement.  In either
 case, posting the registration to the media-types@iana.org list for
 review prior to submission is strongly encouraged.
 Registration requests can be sent to iana@iana.org.  A web form for
 registration requests is also available:
   http://www.iana.org/form/media-types

5.2.1. Provisional Registrations

 Standardization processes often take considerable time to complete.
 In order to facilitate prototyping and testing, it is often helpful
 to assign identifiers, including but not limited to media types,
 early in the process.  This way, identifiers used during standards
 development can remain unchanged once the process is complete, and
 implementations and documentation do not have to be updated.
 Accordingly, a provisional registration process is provided to
 support early assignment of media type names in the standards tree.
 A provisional registration MAY be submitted to IANA for standards-
 tree types.  The only required fields in such registrations are the
 media type name and contact information (including the standards-
 related organization name).
 Upon receipt of a provisional registration, IANA will check the name
 and contact information, then publish the registration in a distinct
 publicly visible provisional registration list.
 Provisional registrations MAY be updated or abandoned at any time.
 When the registration is abandoned, the media type is no longer
 registered in any sense; it can subsequently be registered just like
 any other unassigned media type name.

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 20] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

5.3. Review and Approval

 With the exception of provisional standards-tree registrations,
 registrations submitted to the IANA will be passed on to the media
 types reviewer.  The media types reviewer, who is appointed by the
 IETF Applications Area Director(s), will review the registration to
 make sure it meets the requirements set forth in this document.
 Registrations that do not meet these requirements will be returned to
 the submitter for revision.
 Decisions made by the media types reviewer may be appealed to the
 IESG using the procedure specified in Section 6.5.4 of [RFC2026].
 Once a media type registration has passed review, the IANA will
 register the media type and make the media type registration
 available to the community.
 In the case of standards-tree registrations from other standards-
 related organizations, IANA will also check that the submitter is in
 fact a recognized standards-related organization.  If the submitter
 is not currently recognized as such, the IESG will be asked to
 confirm their status.  Recognition from the IESG MUST be obtained
 before a standards-tree registration can proceed.

5.4. Comments on Media Type Registrations

 Comments on registered media types may be submitted by members of the
 community to the IANA at iana@iana.org.  These comments will be
 reviewed by the media types reviewer and then passed on to the
 "owner" of the media type if possible.  Submitters of comments may
 request that their comment be attached to the media type registration
 itself; if the IANA, in consultation with the media types reviewer,
 approves, the comment will be made accessible in conjunction with the
 type registration.

5.5. Change Procedures

 Once a media type has been published by the IANA, the owner may
 request a change to its definition.  The descriptions of the
 different registration trees above designate the "owners" of each
 type of registration.  The same procedure that would be appropriate
 for the original registration request is used to process a change
 request.
 Media type registrations may not be deleted; media types that are no
 longer believed appropriate for use can be declared OBSOLETE by a
 change to their "intended use" field; such media types will be
 clearly marked in the lists published by the IANA.

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 21] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

 Significant changes to a media type's definition should be requested
 only when there are serious omissions or errors in the published
 specification.  When review is required, a change request may be
 denied if it renders entities that were valid under the previous
 definition invalid under the new definition.
 The owner of a media type may pass responsibility to another person
 or agency by informing the IANA; this can be done without discussion
 or review.
 The IESG may reassign responsibility for a media type.  The most
 common case of this will be to enable changes to be made to types
 where the author of the registration has died, moved out of contact,
 or is otherwise unable to make changes that are important to the
 community.

5.6. Registration Template

 Type name:
 Subtype name:
 Required parameters:
 Optional parameters:
 Encoding considerations:
 Security considerations:
 Interoperability considerations:
 Published specification:
 Applications that use this media type:
 Fragment identifier considerations:
 Additional information:
   Deprecated alias names for this type:
   Magic number(s):
   File extension(s):
   Macintosh file type code(s):
 Person & email address to contact for further information:

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 22] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

 Intended usage:
 (One of COMMON, LIMITED USE, or OBSOLETE.)
 Restrictions on usage:
 (Any restrictions on where the media type can be used go here.)
 Author:
 Change controller:
 Provisional registration? (standards tree only):
 (Any other information that the author deems interesting may be
 added below this line.)
 "N/A", written exactly that way, can be used in any field if desired
 to emphasize the fact that it does not apply or that the question was
 not omitted by accident.  Do not use 'none' or other words that could
 be mistaken for a response.
 Limited-use media types should also note in the applications list
 whether or not that list is exhaustive.

6. Structured Syntax Suffix Registration Procedures

 Someone wishing to define a "+suffix" name for a structured syntax
 for use with a new media type registration SHOULD:
 1.  Check IANA's registry of media type name suffixes to see whether
     or not there is already an entry for that well-defined structured
     syntax.
 2.  If there is no entry for their suffix scheme, fill out the
     template (specified in Section 6.2) and include that with the
     media type registration.  The template may be contained in an
     Internet Draft, alone or as part of some other protocol
     specification.  The template may also be submitted in some other
     form (as part of another document or as a stand-alone document),
     but the contents will be treated as an "IETF Contribution" under
     the guidelines of BCP 78 [RFC5378].
 3.  Send a copy of the template or a pointer to the containing
     document (with specific reference to the section with the
     template) to the mailing list media-types@iana.org, requesting

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 23] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

     review.  This may be combined with a request to review the media
     type registration.  Allow a reasonable time for discussion and
     comments.
 4.  Respond to review comments and make revisions to the proposed
     registration as needed to bring it into line with the guidelines
     given in this document.
 5.  Submit the (possibly updated) registration template (or pointer
     to the document containing it) to IANA at iana@iana.org.
 Upon receipt of a structured syntax suffix registration request,
 1.  IANA checks the submission for completeness; if sections are
     missing or citations are not correct, IANA rejects the
     registration request.
 2.  IANA checks the current registry for an entry with the same name;
     if such a registry exists, IANA rejects the registration request.
 3.  IANA requests Expert Review of the registration request against
     the corresponding guidelines.
 4.  The Designated Expert may request additional review or
     discussion, as necessary.
 5.  If Expert Review recommends registration, IANA adds the
     registration to the appropriate registry.
 The initial registry content specification [RFC6839] provides
 examples of structured syntax suffix registrations.

6.1. Change Procedures

 Registrations may be updated in each registry by the same mechanism
 as required for an initial registration.  In cases where the original
 definition of the scheme is contained in an IESG-approved document,
 update of the specification also requires IESG approval.

6.2. Structured Syntax Suffix Registration Template

 This template describes the fields that must be supplied in a
 structured syntax suffix registration request:
 Name
    Full name of the well-defined structured syntax.

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 24] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

 +suffix
    Suffix used to indicate conformance to the syntax.
 References
    Include full citations for all specifications necessary to
    understand the structured syntax.
 Encoding considerations
    General guidance regarding encoding considerations for any type
    employing this syntax should be given here.  The same requirements
    for media type encoding considerations given in Section 4.8 apply
    here.
 Interoperability considerations
    Any issues regarding the interoperable use of types employing this
    structured syntax should be given here.  Examples would include
    the existence of incompatible versions of the syntax, issues
    combining certain charsets with the syntax, or incompatibilities
    with other types or protocols.
 Fragment identifier considerations
    Generic processing of fragment identifiers for any type employing
    this syntax should be described here.
 Security considerations
    Security considerations shared by media types employing this
    structured syntax must be specified here.  The same requirements
    for media type security considerations given in Section 4.6 apply
    here, with the exception that the option of not assessing the
    security considerations is not available for suffix registrations.
 Contact
    Person (including contact information) to contact for further
    information.
 Author/Change controller.
    Person (including contact information) authorized to change this
    suffix registration.

7. Security Considerations

 Security requirements for both media type and media type suffix
 registrations are discussed in Section 4.6.

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 25] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

8. IANA Considerations

 The purpose of this document is to define IANA registries for media
 types and structured syntax suffixes as well as the procedures for
 managing these registries.  Additionally, this document requires IANA
 to maintain a list of standards-related organizations for which the
 IESG has approved media type registrations in the standards tree.
 The existing media type registry has been extended to include a
 section for provisional registrations.  Only standards-tree
 registrations are allowed in the standards tree and only at the
 request of an organization on the IANA list of standards-related
 organizations.  See Section 5.2.1 for additional information on
 provisional registrations.
 IANA has also added the following note at the top of the provisional
 registry:
    This registry, unlike some other provisional IANA registries, is
    only for temporary use.  Entries in this registry are either
    finalized and moved to the main media types registry, or are
    abandoned and deleted.  Entries in this registry are suitable for
    use for development and test purposes only.
 The structured syntax name suffix registry has been created as
 follows:
 o  The name is the "Structured Syntax Suffix" registry.
 o  The registration process is specified in Section 6.
 o  The information required for a registry entry as well as the entry
    format are specified in Section 6.2.
 o  The initial content of the registry is specified in [RFC6839].
 Entries in both the media type and structured suffix registries will
 be annotated by IANA with both the original registration date as well
 as the date of the most recent update to the entry.  Registrations
 made prior to the implementation of this specification may, if
 necessary, be marked as such, rather than with a specific date.
 Since registration entries can be updated multiple times, IANA will
 also maintain the history of changes to each registration in such a
 way that the state of the registration at any given time can be
 determined.

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 26] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

 Finally, per this document, IANA has created a new email address,
 media-types@iana.org, for the media type review list, which replaces
 the ietf-types@iana.org address specified in RFC 4288.
 ietf-types@iana.org has been retained as an alias.

9. Acknowledgments

 The current authors would like to acknowledge their debt to the late
 Dr. Jon Postel, whose general model of IANA registration procedures
 and specific contributions shaped the predecessors of this document
 [RFC2048] [RFC4288].  We hope that the current version is one with
 which he would have agreed but, as it is impossible to verify that
 agreement, we have regretfully removed his name as a co-author.
 Randy Bush, Francis Dupont, Bjoern Hoehrmann, Barry Leiba, Murray
 Kucherawy, Alexey Melnikov, S. Moonesamy, Mark Nottingham, Tom Petch,
 Peter Saint-Andre, and Jeni Tennison provided many helpful review
 comments and suggestions.

10. References

10.1. Normative References

 [RFC2045]         Freed, N. and N. Borenstein, "Multipurpose Internet
                   Mail Extensions (MIME) Part One: Format of Internet
                   Message Bodies", RFC 2045, November 1996.
 [RFC2046]         Freed, N. and N. Borenstein, "Multipurpose Internet
                   Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media Types",
                   RFC 2046, November 1996.
 [RFC2119]         Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
                   Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
 [RFC2978]         Freed, N. and J. Postel, "IANA Charset Registration
                   Procedures", BCP 19, RFC 2978, October 2000.
 [RFC3023]         Murata, M., St. Laurent, S., and D. Kohn, "XML
                   Media Types", RFC 3023, January 2001.
 [RFC3629]         Yergeau, F., "UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO
                   10646", STD 63, RFC 3629, November 2003.
 [RFC3979]         Bradner, S., "Intellectual Property Rights in IETF
                   Technology", BCP 79, RFC 3979, March 2005.

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 27] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

 [RFC3986]         Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter,
                   "Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic
                   Syntax", STD 66, RFC 3986, January 2005.
 [RFC4855]         Casner, S., "Media Type Registration of RTP Payload
                   Formats", RFC 4855, February 2007.
 [RFC5226]         Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for
                   Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs",
                   BCP 26, RFC 5226, May 2008.
 [RFC5234]         Crocker, D. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for
                   Syntax Specifications: ABNF", STD 68, RFC 5234,
                   January 2008.
 [RFC5378]         Bradner, S. and J. Contreras, "Rights Contributors
                   Provide to the IETF Trust", BCP 78, RFC 5378,
                   November 2008.
 [RFC6532]         Yang, A., Steele, S., and N. Freed,
                   "Internationalized Email Headers", RFC 6532,
                   February 2012.
 [RFC6657]         Melnikov, A. and J. Reschke, "Update to MIME
                   regarding "charset" Parameter Handling in Textual
                   Media Types", RFC 6657, July 2012.
 [RFC6839]         Hansen, T. and A. Melnikov, "Additional Media Type
                   Structured Syntax Suffixes", RFC 6839,
                   January 2013.

10.2. Informative References

 [MacOSFileTypes]  Apple Computer, Inc., "Mac OS: File Type and
                   Creator Codes, and File Formats", Apple Knowledge
                   Base Article 55381, June 1993,
                   <http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n55381>.
 [RFC2026]         Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process --
                   Revision 3", BCP 9, RFC 2026, October 1996.
 [RFC2048]         Freed, N., Klensin, J., and J. Postel,
                   "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part
                   Four: Registration Procedures", BCP 13, RFC 2048,
                   November 1996.

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 28] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

 [RFC2231]         Freed, N. and K. Moore, "MIME Parameter Value and
                   Encoded Word Extensions:
                   Character Sets, Languages, and Continuations",
                   RFC 2231, November 1997.
 [RFC2616]         Fielding, R., Gettys, J., Mogul, J., Frystyk, H.,
                   Masinter, L., Leach, P., and T. Berners-Lee,
                   "Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1",
                   RFC 2616, June 1999.
 [RFC4288]         Freed, N. and J. Klensin, "Media Type
                   Specifications and Registration Procedures",
                   BCP 13, RFC 4288, December 2005.
 [RFC5987]         Reschke, J., "Character Set and Language Encoding
                   for Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Header Field
                   Parameters", RFC 5987, August 2010.
 [RFC6648]         Saint-Andre, P., Crocker, D., and M. Nottingham,
                   "Deprecating the "X-" Prefix and Similar Constructs
                   in Application Protocols", BCP 178, RFC 6648,
                   June 2012.

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 29] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

Appendix A. Grandfathered Media Types

 A number of media types with unfaceted subtype names, registered
 prior to 1996, would, if registered under the guidelines in this
 document, be given a faceted name and placed into either the vendor
 or personal trees.  Reregistration of those types to reflect the
 appropriate trees is encouraged but not required.  Ownership and
 change control principles outlined in this document apply to those
 types as if they had been registered in the trees described above.
 From time to time there may also be cases where a media type with an
 unfaceted subtype name has been widely deployed without being
 registered.  (Note that this includes subtype names beginning with
 the "x-" prefix.)  If possible, such a media type SHOULD be
 reregistered with a proper faceted subtype name, possibly using a
 deprecated alias to identify the original name (see Section 4.2.9).
 However, if this is not possible, the type can, subject to approval
 by both the media types reviewer and the IESG, be registered in the
 proper tree with its unfaceted name.

Appendix B. Changes since RFC 4288

 o  Suffixes to indicate the use of a particular structured syntax are
    now fully specified and a suffix registration process has been
    defined.
 o  Registration of widely deployed unregistered unfaceted type names
    in the vendor or personal trees is now allowed, subject to
    approval by the media types reviewer and the IESG.
 o  The standards-tree registration process has been revised to
    include Expert Review and generalized to address cases like media
    types in non-IETF stream documents.
 o  A field for fragment identifiers has been added to the
    registration template and brief directions for specifying fragment
    identifiers have been added.
 o  The specification requirements for personal-tree registrations
    have been changed to be the same as those for the vendor tree.
    The text has been changed to encourage (but not require)
    specification availability.
 o  The process for defining additional trees has been clarified to
    state that an IETF Standards Action is required.
 o  Widely deployed types with "x-" names can now be registered as an
    exception in the vendor tree.

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 30] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

 o  The requirements on changes to registrations have been loosened so
    minor changes are easier to make.
 o  The registration process has been completely restructured so that
    with the exception of IETF-generated types in the standards tree,
    all requests are processed by IANA and not the IESG.
 o  A provisional registration process has been added for early
    assignment of types in the standards tree.
 o  Many editorial changes have been made throughout the document to
    make the requirements and processes it describes clearer and
    easier to follow.
 o  The ability to specify a list of deprecated aliases for a media
    type has been added.
 o  Types with names beginning with "x-" are no longer considered to
    be members of the unregistered "x." tree.  As with any unfaceted
    type, special procedures have been added to allow registration of
    such types in an appropriate tree.
 o  Changes to a type registered by a third party may now be made by
    the designated change controller even if that isn't the vendor or
    organization that created the type.  However, the vendor or
    organization may elect to assert ownership and change controller
    over the type at any time.
 o  Limited-use media types are now asked to note whether or not the
    supplied list of applications employing the media type is
    exhaustive.
 o  The ABNF for media type names has been further restricted to
    require that names begin with an alphanumeric character.
 o  Mailing list review is no longer required prior to registration of
    media types.  Additionally, the address associated with the media
    type review mailing list has been changed to media-types@iana.org.
 o  The rules for text/* media types have been updated to reflect the
    changes specified in [RFC6657].

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 31] RFC 6838 Media Type Registration January 2013

Authors' Addresses

 Ned Freed
 Oracle
 800 Royal Oaks
 Monrovia, CA  91016-6347
 USA
 EMail: ned+ietf@mrochek.com
 John C. Klensin
 1770 Massachusetts Ave, #322
 Cambridge, MA  02140
 USA
 EMail: john+ietf@jck.com
 Tony Hansen
 AT&T Laboratories
 200 Laurel Ave.
 Middletown, NJ  07748
 USA
 EMail: tony+mtsuffix@maillennium.att.com

Freed, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 32]

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