File extensions and MIME Types in .NET

It depends what you need the MIME type for. In general, for services (web apps, web service, etc.), it’s advisable not to use a MIME list which is dependent on the OS settings, or only as fallback if you cannot find MIME information otherwise.

I think that this is also the reason why MS chose to put constant MIME types in their System.Web.MimeMapping class (unfortunately it’s internal, for whatever reason).

Edit:

Wrapper (<= .NET 3.5)

public static class MimeExtensionHelper
{
    static object locker = new object();
    static object mimeMapping;
    static MethodInfo getMimeMappingMethodInfo;

    static MimeExtensionHelper()
    {
        Type mimeMappingType = Assembly.GetAssembly(typeof(HttpRuntime)).GetType("System.Web.MimeMapping");
        if (mimeMappingType == null)
            throw new SystemException("Couldnt find MimeMapping type");
        ConstructorInfo constructorInfo = mimeMappingType.GetConstructor(BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance, null, Type.EmptyTypes, null);
        if (constructorInfo == null)
            throw new SystemException("Couldnt find default constructor for MimeMapping");
        mimeMapping = constructorInfo.Invoke(null);
        if (mimeMapping == null)
            throw new SystemException("Couldnt find MimeMapping");
        getMimeMappingMethodInfo = mimeMappingType.GetMethod("GetMimeMapping", BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.NonPublic);
        if (getMimeMappingMethodInfo == null)
            throw new SystemException("Couldnt find GetMimeMapping method");
        if (getMimeMappingMethodInfo.ReturnType != typeof(string))
            throw new SystemException("GetMimeMapping method has invalid return type");
        if (getMimeMappingMethodInfo.GetParameters().Length != 1 && getMimeMappingMethodInfo.GetParameters()[0].ParameterType != typeof(string))
            throw new SystemException("GetMimeMapping method has invalid parameters");
    }
    public static string GetMimeType(string filename)
    {
        lock (locker)
            return (string)getMimeMappingMethodInfo.Invoke(mimeMapping, new object[] { filename });
    }
}

Wrapper (.NET 4.0)

public static class MimeExtensionHelper
    {
        static object locker = new object();
        static object mimeMapping;
        static MethodInfo getMimeMappingMethodInfo;

        static MimeExtensionHelper()
        {
            Type mimeMappingType = Assembly.GetAssembly(typeof(HttpRuntime)).GetType("System.Web.MimeMapping");
            if (mimeMappingType == null)
                throw new SystemException("Couldnt find MimeMapping type");            
            getMimeMappingMethodInfo = mimeMappingType.GetMethod("GetMimeMapping", BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Public);
            if (getMimeMappingMethodInfo == null)
                throw new SystemException("Couldnt find GetMimeMapping method");
            if (getMimeMappingMethodInfo.ReturnType != typeof(string))
                throw new SystemException("GetMimeMapping method has invalid return type");
            if (getMimeMappingMethodInfo.GetParameters().Length != 1 && getMimeMappingMethodInfo.GetParameters()[0].ParameterType != typeof(string))
                throw new SystemException("GetMimeMapping method has invalid parameters");
        }
        public static string GetMimeType(string filename)
        {
            lock (locker)
                return (string)getMimeMappingMethodInfo.Invoke(mimeMapping, new object[] { filename });
        }
    }

.NET 4.5+

No wrapper required, call the public method System.Web.MimeMapping.GetMimeMapping directly.