Patent ID: 8489702

Claim:
A method comprising: prior to requesting download of an entire media file that is referenced on a web page from a Web server to a computing device over the Internet, requesting by the computing device from the Web server data that specifies a multipurpose Internet mail extensions (MIME) type of the media file; determining, by the computing device based at least in part on the MIME type of the media file, whether the media file can be played by the computing device without downloading the entire media file; examining a file extension of the media file to determine whether the media file can be played by the computing device if the media file cannot be determined playable based on the MIME type, including matching the file extension of the media file against a list of known file extensions that the computing device support, wherein if the file extension of the media file matches one of the known file extensions, the method further comprises: requesting a first portion of the media file that is less than all of the media file; analyzing the first portion to determine which type of atom is associated with a header that is contained in the first portion, based on the type of atom, downloading a second portion of the media file without downloading the entire media file, and determining, based on content within the second portion, whether the media file is playable on the computing device; and downloading over the Internet the entire media file from the Web server if it is determined the media file can be played by the computing device.