php - why some mp3s on mime_content_type return application/octet-stream

Question

Why is it that on some mp3s files, when I call mime_content_type($mp3_file_path) it returns application/octet-stream?

This is my code:

if (!empty($_FILES)) {
    $tempFile = $_FILES['Filedata']['tmp_name'];
    $image = getimagesize($tempFile);
    $mp3_mimes = array('audio/mpeg', 'audio/x-mpeg', 'audio/mp3', 'audio/x-mp3', 'audio/mpeg3', 'audio/x-mpeg3', 'audio/mpg', 'audio/x-mpg', 'audio/x-mpegaudio'); 
   
    if (in_array(mime_content_type($tempFile), $mp3_mimes)) { 
        echo json_encode("mp3");
    } elseif ($image['mime']=='image/jpeg') {
        echo json_encode("jpg");
    } else{
        echo json_encode("error");
    }
}

EDIT: I've found a nice class here:

http://www.zedwood.com/article/127/php-calculate-duration-of-mp3

Answer 1

MP3 files are a strange beast when it comes to identifying them. You can have an MP3 stored with a .wav container. There can be an ID3v2 header at the start of the file. You can embed an MP3 essentially within any file.

The only way to detect them reliably is to parse slowly through the file and try to find something that looks like an MP3 frame. A frame is the smallest unit of valid MP3 data possible, and represents (going off memory) 0.028 seconds of audio. The size of the frame varies based on bitrate and sampling rate, so you can't just grab the bitrate/sample rate of the first frame and assume all the other frames will be the same size - a VBR mp3 must be parsed in its entirety to calculate the total playing time.

All this boils down to that identifying an MP3 by using PHP's fileinfo and the like isn't reliable, as the actual MP3 data can start ANYWHERE in a file. fileinfo only looks at the first kilobyte or two of data, so if it says it's not an MP3, it might very well be lying because the data started slightly farther in.