What is MIME type "text/x-fasta"?

A MIME type is a string that tells browsers and other tools how to handle a particular kind of file.

The MIME type text/x-fasta designates a plain text format for biological sequence data. This format stores nucleotide or protein sequences using simple characters. A record in this file starts with a ">" symbol, followed by an identifier, and then sequence lines.

Files in this format can use various extensions such as FASTA, FA, FSA, FNA, FAS, SEQ, and FAA.

Common uses include:

• Storing genomic data for research
• Representing protein sequences
• Feeding data into sequence alignment and analysis software
• Allowing easy editing and review with simple text editors

This format is lightweight and human-readable, which makes it ideal for computational biology and related fields. For additional details, visit FASTA Format on Wikipedia.

Associated file extensions

.fasta, .fa, .fsa, .fna, .fas, .seq, .faa

Usage Examples

HTTP Header

When serving content with this MIME type, set the Content-Type header:

    Content-Type: text/x-fasta
  

HTML

In HTML, you can specify the MIME type in various elements:

    <a href="file.dat" type="text/x-fasta">Download file</a>
  

Server-side (Node.js)

Setting the Content-Type header in Node.js:

    const http = require('http');
    
    http.createServer((req, res) => {
      res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/x-fasta');
      res.end('Content here');
    }).listen(3000);
  

Associated file extensions

.fasta, .fa, .fsa, .fna, .fas, .seq, .faa