ApplicationBinary

`application/vnd.ms-excel`

Microsoft Excel (Legacy)

Reference for application/vnd.ms-excel, the MIME type for legacy Microsoft Excel .xls spreadsheet files.

MIME Type Detector

Drop a file to detect its MIME type — no upload, runs in your browser

📄

Drop any file here or click to choose

Expected extensions: .xls

HTTP Content-Type Header

HTTP Header

Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel

Associated File Extensions

.xls

Quick Facts

MIME Type	application/vnd.ms-excel
Category	Application
Type	Binary
Extensions	.xls

Common Usage

The legacy .xls format was the default spreadsheet format for Microsoft Excel 97-2003. It is still used in financial systems, legacy data exports, and older enterprise applications.

Many data processing tools still support reading and writing .xls files.

Code Examples

HTML

<!-- Link or embed with explicit type -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="file.xls" type="application/vnd.ms-excel">

<!-- Or for script/media elements -->
<script type="application/vnd.ms-excel" src="file.xls"></script>

Node.js

// Express.js
app.get('/file', (req, res) => {
  res.type('application/vnd.ms-excel');
  res.send(data);
});

// Node.js http
res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'application/vnd.ms-excel' });

nginx

# nginx.conf — add to types block or use default
types {
    application/vnd.ms-excel  xls;
}

# Or set for a specific location
location /api/ {
    default_type application/vnd.ms-excel;
}