This article describes the settings that are available in the Applications panel of the Firefox OptionsPreferences window.

The Applications panel allows you to choose how Firefox handles different types of files. For each content type Firefox recognizes, you may select an action that Firefox will use to handle that type of content. You can view the file content in the Firefox window with Firefox for natively supported formats (podcast, web feed, PDF) or with a plugin, open the file with an application installed on your computer (or in some cases, with a web application), or you can save the file to your downloads folder.

To change how Firefox handles a file type in the list, click on its name to select it. Open the drop-down menu to select the download action you want Firefox to use:

• Preview in Firefox: Select it if you want Firefox displays the content. It's only applicable to a limited number of types, those that Firefox is able to decode such as Podcast, Video Podcast, Web Feed, PDF.

• Choose a feature or plugin: If you want a feature or a plugin in Firefox to handle the type, and one is available, select it from the drop-down menu.
• Choose an application: To choose a local or web application to handle a type, select the application from the drop-down menu. If you want a local application that is not in the menu to handle the type, select Use other… from the drop-down menu and point Firefox to its location.
• Save on your computer: Some file types can be saved to your computer. Select Save File from the menu for one of these file types to have Firefox save that type of file to the location specified in the Downloads settings.

Some file formats may have multiple content types, also called Internet media types, (for instance, audio/wav and audio/x-wav for Wave Sound) that you will need to change. Also, when a plugin is available to handle a content type and you choose a different action for that type, Firefox will only take your chosen action when you access the type directly. For example, you may choose to open these files with a media player application instead of using the plugin that is set to open it. In such cases, your chosen application will be used for file downloads but, when the content type is embedded inside a web page, Firefox will continue to use the plugin to handle the content type.

Adding, removing, or editing a download action

The Applications panel has limited functionality for editing. You can change the action for an existing file type but you cannot add or remove file types. Entries are added automatically when you download files and select actions for them. See Adding download actions.