The Structure of the [Content_types].xml File

Contains information about the kinds of content in a VSIX package. Visual Studio uses the [Content_Types].xml file to install the package, but it does not install the file itself.

Note

Although this topic applies only to [Content_Type].xml files that are used in VSIX packages, the [Content_Types].xml file type is part of the Open Packaging Conventions (OPC) standard. For more information, see OPC: A New Standard For Packaging Your Data on the MSDN Web site.

Attributes and Elements

The following sections describe the root element and its attributes and child elements.

Root Element

Element Description
Types Contains child elements that enumerate the file types in the VSIX package.

Attributes

Attribute Description
Xmlns (Required.) The location of the schema used for this [Content_Types].xml file.

{Attribute name} Attribute

Value Description
http://schemas.openformats.org/package/2006/content-types The location of the content types schema.

Child Elements

The Types element can contain any number of Default elements.

Element Description
Default Describes a content type in the VSIX package. Every file type in the package must have its own Default element.

Attributes

Attribute Description
Extension The file name extension of a file in the VSIX package.
ContentType Describes the kind of content that is associated with the file name extension.

{Attribute name} Attribute

Visual Studio recognizes the following ContentType values for the associated Extension types.

Extension ContentType
txt text/plain
pkgdef text/plain
xml text/xml
vsixmanifest text/xml
htm or html text/html
rtf application/rtf
pdf application/pdf
gif image/gif
jpg or jpeg image/jpg
tiff image/tiff
vsix application/zip
zip application/zip
dll application/octet-stream
all other file types application/octet-stream

Example

Description

The following [Content_Types].xml file describes a typical VSIX package.

Code

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Types xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/content-types">
    <Default Extension="vsixmanifest" ContentType="text/xml" />
    <Default Extension="dll" ContentType="application/octet-stream" />
    <Default Extension="png" ContentType="application/octet-stream" />
    <Default Extension="txt" ContentType="text/plain" />
    <Default Extension="pkgdef" ContentType="text/plain" />
</Types>

See also