Your website visitors may face trouble loading or finding a web page because of technical faults made by your client organization. This trouble is formally called an “error,” and they mostly occur for wrong URL spelling, broken links, client authentication problems, forbidden comets, etc.
4XX is a category of errors that occur due to the non-existence or restriction on a web page. Different types of 4XX errors include 400 Bad Request Error, 401 Unauthorized Error, 403 Forbidden Error, 404 Not Found Error, and 415 Unsupported Media Type, etc.
More than 50% of your website visitors won’t come back if they find errors like 404 Page Not Found or 415 Unsupported Media Type. Sadly, these errors are made from your client’s end, but you have to solve them. Therefore, you must know the reasons and ways to fix them to do.
What is a 415 Unsupported Media Type Error?
When your server doesn’t support the format of content you uploaded, it shows you a 415 error. The term “unsupported media type” indicates the mismatch between your website’s supported format and your uploaded content’s format.
For example, your website supports WebP or .gif, but you uploaded an image in .jpeg or .png format. Or, maybe your website supports WebM videos only, but you uploaded an MKV or WMV. in most cases, you’ve to take off the content and upload a compatible format.
How to Fix a 415 Unsupported Media Type Error?
You already understand that your client doesn’t have the resources or expertise to solve the issue. It’s the server-end responsibility to sort it out. And, let me tell you, this is quite time-consuming! Here is our three steps solution to this problem!
Send the Correct Content-Type Header Value
A content type, previously called a MIME type, is an indicator of the content’s category or format attached to a file you want to upload to your website. Such as image/jpeg or video/Mkv etc., just like a file name extension for Windows, it helps the server understand if it supports the file format.
Your client can send an HTTP POST method request to the server to clarify the type of data they want to upload. First, the request is sent in HTML format usually. Later, the server changes it into a suitable format.
Or, your client can use an HTTP PUT request method. PUT is idempotent and, therefore, can transform the data according to the website’s format requirements.
Ensure that the Server Can Process the Content-type Header Value
Let me show you some examples of content-type header values and how they’re compatible with the server –
If your header name is “application,” and your header value is “application/XML,” iJSONans that the file or data you’re trying to upload is in XML format. Now, you’ve to verify if your website supports an XML file. If not, your client’s gotta send a POST or PUT request.
Check the Accept Header to Understand What the Server Can Process
For the above example of “application/XML,” if your accept header shows the same, it supports and sets your data output type to XML format.
If your data is in JSON format, you set the header value as “application/JSON”. If the accept header is the same, it sets the output file type to JSON. Or, if the accept header is “application/JSON;indent=2”, it means it sets the output file type to formatted JSON.
Bottom Line
Fixing a 415 Unsupported Media Type is complex and time-consuming. But you can’t ignore them as they reduce your website’s popularity and SEO ranking. For a website owner, it’s important to understand the technical terms, status codes, and solution methods.
While you’re busy expanding your business, these tasks often hurt your business’s productivity. Therefore, it’s better to hire website maintenance services teams to take care of the daily issues. And most importantly, send the correct content-type header value to prevent these occurrences.
This is just one type of challenge you’ll face maintaining a website. There are hundreds of others. Your website is the face of your business. It can build and ruin server-end your reputation. Therefore, knowing you shouldn’t ignore any error or problem on your website. Good luck!