当然，为了将通用完整性、动态性和可移植性的优势与最小的依赖性结合起来

你将结合Samuel Neff的静态字典与特定平台的查询，例如由Bryan Denny。

例如，在Linux下，命令行工具“xdg-mime”可以完成后面的部分。

您可以在注册表中找到这些信息。例如，.pdf文件的MIME类型可以在键HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf中找到，在值"Content type "中:

string mimeType = Registry.GetValue(@"HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf", "Content Type", null) as string;

为了让Shimmy的回答更清楚:

var mimeType = MimeMapping.GetMimeMapping(fileName);

System.Web.dll v4.5开发

// Summary:
//     Returns the MIME mapping for the specified file name.
//
// Parameters:
//   fileName:
//     The file name that is used to determine the MIME type.
public static string GetMimeMapping(string fileName);

. net框架提供了获取mime类型的内置方法。不需要编写自定义代码。

string mimeType = System.Web.MimeMapping.GetMimeMapping(fileName);

我对这些mimetypes的理解，使用apache列表，下面的脚本将为您提供一个包含所有mimetypes的字典。

var mimeTypeListUrl = "http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/httpd/httpd/trunk/docs/conf/mime.types";
var webClient = new WebClient();
var rawData = webClient.DownloadString(mimeTypeListUrl).Split(new[] { Environment.NewLine, "\n" }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);

var extensionToMimeType = new Dictionary<string, string>();
var mimeTypeToExtension = new Dictionary<string, string[]>();

foreach (var row in rawData)
{
    if (row.StartsWith("#")) continue;

    var rowData = row.Split(new[] { "\t" }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
    if (rowData.Length != 2) continue;

    var extensions = rowData[1].Split(new[] { " " }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
    if (!mimeTypeToExtension.ContainsKey(rowData[0]))
    {
        mimeTypeToExtension.Add(rowData[0], extensions);
    }

    foreach (var extension in extensions)
    {
        if (!extensionToMimeType.ContainsKey(extension))
        {
            extensionToMimeType.Add(extension, rowData[0]);
        }
    }

}

这个helper类返回任何文件名的mime类型(内容类型)、描述和图标:

using Microsoft.Win32;
using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.IO;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

public static class Helper
{
    [DllImport("shell32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
    private static extern int ExtractIconEx(string lpszFile, int nIconIndex, IntPtr[] phIconLarge, IntPtr[] phIconSmall, int nIcons);

    [DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    private static extern int DestroyIcon(IntPtr hIcon);

    public static string GetFileContentType(string fileName)
    {
        if (fileName == null)
        {
            throw new ArgumentNullException("fileName");
        }

        RegistryKey registryKey = null;
        try
        {
            FileInfo fileInfo = new FileInfo(fileName);

            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(fileInfo.Extension))
            {
                return string.Empty;
            }

            string extension = fileInfo.Extension.ToLowerInvariant();

            registryKey = Registry.ClassesRoot.OpenSubKey(extension);
            if (registryKey == null)
            {
                return string.Empty;
            }

            object contentTypeObject = registryKey.GetValue("Content Type");
            if (!(contentTypeObject is string))
            {
                return string.Empty;
            }

            string contentType = (string)contentTypeObject;

            return contentType;
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            return null;
        }
        finally
        {
            if (registryKey != null)
            {
                registryKey.Close();
            }
        }
    }

    public static string GetFileDescription(string fileName)
    {
        if (fileName == null)
        {
            throw new ArgumentNullException("fileName");
        }

        RegistryKey registryKey1 = null;
        RegistryKey registryKey2 = null;
        try
        {
            FileInfo fileInfo = new FileInfo(fileName);

            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(fileInfo.Extension))
            {
                return string.Empty;
            }

            string extension = fileInfo.Extension.ToLowerInvariant();

            registryKey1 = Registry.ClassesRoot.OpenSubKey(extension);
            if (registryKey1 == null)
            {
                return string.Empty;
            }

            object extensionDefaultObject = registryKey1.GetValue(null);
            if (!(extensionDefaultObject is string))
            {
                return string.Empty;
            }

            string extensionDefaultValue = (string)extensionDefaultObject;

            registryKey2 = Registry.ClassesRoot.OpenSubKey(extensionDefaultValue);
            if (registryKey2 == null)
            {
                return string.Empty;
            }

            object fileDescriptionObject = registryKey2.GetValue(null);
            if (!(fileDescriptionObject is string))
            {
                return string.Empty;
            }

            string fileDescription = (string)fileDescriptionObject;
            return fileDescription;
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            return null;
        }
        finally
        {
            if (registryKey2 != null)
            {
                registryKey2.Close();
            }

            if (registryKey1 != null)
            {
                registryKey1.Close();
            }
        }
    }

    public static void GetFileIcons(string fileName, out Icon smallIcon, out Icon largeIcon)
    {
        if (fileName == null)
        {
            throw new ArgumentNullException("fileName");
        }

        smallIcon = null;
        largeIcon = null;

        RegistryKey registryKey1 = null;
        RegistryKey registryKey2 = null;
        try
        {
            FileInfo fileInfo = new FileInfo(fileName);

            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(fileInfo.Extension))
            {
                return;
            }

            string extension = fileInfo.Extension.ToLowerInvariant();

            registryKey1 = Registry.ClassesRoot.OpenSubKey(extension);
            if (registryKey1 == null)
            {
                return;
            }

            object extensionDefaultObject = registryKey1.GetValue(null);
            if (!(extensionDefaultObject is string))
            {
                return;
            }

            string defaultIconKeyName = string.Format("{0}\\DefaultIcon", extensionDefaultObject);

            registryKey2 = Registry.ClassesRoot.OpenSubKey(defaultIconKeyName);
            if (registryKey2 == null)
            {
                return;
            }

            object defaultIconPathObject = registryKey2.GetValue(null);
            if (!(defaultIconPathObject is string))
            {
                return;
            }

            string defaultIconPath = (string)defaultIconPathObject;
            if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(defaultIconPath))
            {
                return;
            }

            string iconfileName = null;
            int iconIndex = 0;

            int commaIndex = defaultIconPath.IndexOf(",");
            if (commaIndex > 0)
            {
                iconfileName = defaultIconPath.Substring(0, commaIndex);
                string iconIndexString = defaultIconPath.Substring(commaIndex + 1);

                if (!int.TryParse(iconIndexString, out iconIndex))
                {
                    iconIndex = 0;
                }
            }
            else
            {
                iconfileName = defaultIconPath;
                iconIndex = 0;
            }

            IntPtr[] phiconSmall = new IntPtr[1] { IntPtr.Zero };
            IntPtr[] phiconLarge = new IntPtr[1] { IntPtr.Zero };

            int readIconCount = ExtractIconEx(iconfileName, iconIndex, phiconLarge, phiconSmall, 1);

            if (readIconCount < 0)
            {
                return;
            }

            if (phiconSmall[0] != IntPtr.Zero)
            {
                smallIcon = (Icon)Icon.FromHandle(phiconSmall[0]).Clone();
                DestroyIcon(phiconSmall[0]);
            }

            if (phiconLarge[0] != IntPtr.Zero)
            {
                largeIcon = (Icon)Icon.FromHandle(phiconLarge[0]).Clone();
                DestroyIcon(phiconLarge[0]);
            }

            return;
        }
        finally
        {
            if (registryKey2 != null)
            {
                registryKey2.Close();
            }

            if (registryKey1 != null)
            {
                registryKey1.Close();
            }
        }
    }
}

用法:

string fileName = "NotExists.txt";
string contentType = Helper.GetFileContentType(fileName); // "text/plain"
string description = Helper.GetFileDescription(fileName); // "Text Document"
Icon smallIcon, largeIcon;
Helper.GetFileIcons(fileName, out smallIcon, out largeIcon); // 16x16, 32x32 icons