How to check file MIME type with javascript before upload?

Question

I have read this and this questions which seems to suggest that the file MIME type could be checked using javascript on client side. Now, I understand that the real validati

Answer 1

As stated in other answers, you can check the mime type by checking the signature of the file in the first bytes of the file.

But what other answers are doing is loading the entire file in memory in order to check the signature, which is very wasteful and could easily freeze your browser if you select a big file by accident or not.

/**
 * Load the mime type based on the signature of the first bytes of the file
 * @param  {File}   file        A instance of File
 * @param  {Function} callback  Callback with the result
 * @author Victor www.vitim.us
 * @date   2017-03-23
 */
function loadMime(file, callback) {
    
    //List of known mimes
    var mimes = [
        {
            mime: 'image/jpeg',
            pattern: [0xFF, 0xD8, 0xFF],
            mask: [0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF],
        },
        {
            mime: 'image/png',
            pattern: [0x89, 0x50, 0x4E, 0x47],
            mask: [0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF],
        }
        // you can expand this list @see https://mimesniff.spec.whatwg.org/#matching-an-image-type-pattern
    ];

    function check(bytes, mime) {
        for (var i = 0, l = mime.mask.length; i < l; ++i) {
            if ((bytes[i] & mime.mask[i]) - mime.pattern[i] !== 0) {
                return false;
            }
        }
        return true;
    }

    var blob = file.slice(0, 4); //read the first 4 bytes of the file

    var reader = new FileReader();
    reader.onloadend = function(e) {
        if (e.target.readyState === FileReader.DONE) {
            var bytes = new Uint8Array(e.target.result);

            for (var i=0, l = mimes.length; i Browser:" + file.type);
            }

            return callback("Mime: unknown 
 Browser:" + file.type);
        }
    };
    reader.readAsArrayBuffer(blob);
}


//when selecting a file on the input
fileInput.onchange = function() {
    loadMime(fileInput.files[0], function(mime) {

        //print the output to the screen
        output.innerHTML = mime;
    });
};