Multipart form data (multipart/form-data) is an HTTP content type used for form submissions that include file uploads, encoding each field and file as a separate part in the request body.
HTML forms can encode their data in three ways: application/x-www-form-urlencoded (the default), multipart/form-data, and text/plain. Multipart encoding is required when your form includes file inputs.
With the default URL encoding, form data is sent as key=value pairs joined by ampersands: name=Jane&email=jane@example.com. This works fine for text fields but can't handle binary file data.
Multipart encoding splits the request body into separate parts, each with its own content type. Text fields get their own part, and files get their own part with the original filename and MIME type preserved. A unique boundary string separates each part.
You enable multipart encoding by adding enctype="multipart/form-data" to your form tag: <form action="..." method="POST" enctype="multipart/form-data">. Without this attribute, file inputs are submitted as filename strings only — the actual file content is not sent.
FormsList processes multipart form submissions, extracting text field values from the multipart body. For file handling, FormsList captures text data; file uploads should be handled through a dedicated file storage service with the file URL submitted as a text field.
<form enctype='multipart/form-data' method='POST'><input type='file' name='resume'></form>. The enctype attribute enables the browser to send the file's binary content.
A job application form with text fields (name, email) and a file field (resume PDF). Multipart encoding handles both types in a single submission.
A profile form with a photo upload field. The image binary data is encoded as a separate part in the multipart request body.
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