Ошибка 415 post

I am calling a REST service with a JSON request and it responds with a HTTP 415 "Unsupported Media Type" error.

The request content type is set to ("Content-Type", "application/json; charset=utf8").

It works fine if I don’t include a JSON object in the request. I am using the google-gson-2.2.4 library for JSON.

I tried using a couple of different libraries but it made no difference.

Can anybody please help me to resolve this?

Here is my code:

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
{

    JsonObject requestJson = new JsonObject();
    String url = "xxx";

    //method call for generating json

    requestJson = generateJSON();
    URL myurl = new URL(url);
    HttpURLConnection con = (HttpURLConnection)myurl.openConnection();
    con.setDoOutput(true);
    con.setDoInput(true);

    con.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/json; charset=utf8");
    con.setRequestProperty("Accept", "application/json");
    con.setRequestProperty("Method", "POST");
    OutputStream os = con.getOutputStream();
    os.write(requestJson.toString().getBytes("UTF-8"));
    os.close();


    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();  
    int HttpResult =con.getResponseCode();
    if(HttpResult ==HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK){
    BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new   InputStreamReader(con.getInputStream(),"utf-8"));  

        String line = null;
        while ((line = br.readLine()) != null) {  
        sb.append(line + "\n");  
        }
         br.close(); 
         System.out.println(""+sb.toString());  

    }else{
        System.out.println(con.getResponseCode());
        System.out.println(con.getResponseMessage());  
    }  

}
public static JsonObject generateJSON () throws MalformedURLException

{
   String s = "http://www.example.com";
        s.replaceAll("/", "\\/");
    JsonObject reqparam=new JsonObject();
    reqparam.addProperty("type", "arl");
    reqparam.addProperty("action", "remove");
    reqparam.addProperty("domain", "staging");
    reqparam.addProperty("objects", s);
    return reqparam;

}
}

The value of requestJson.toString() is :

{"type":"arl","action":"remove","domain":"staging","objects":"http://www.example.com"}

I am calling a REST service with a JSON request and it responds with a HTTP 415 "Unsupported Media Type" error.

The request content type is set to ("Content-Type", "application/json; charset=utf8").

It works fine if I don’t include a JSON object in the request. I am using the google-gson-2.2.4 library for JSON.

I tried using a couple of different libraries but it made no difference.

Can anybody please help me to resolve this?

Here is my code:

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
{

    JsonObject requestJson = new JsonObject();
    String url = "xxx";

    //method call for generating json

    requestJson = generateJSON();
    URL myurl = new URL(url);
    HttpURLConnection con = (HttpURLConnection)myurl.openConnection();
    con.setDoOutput(true);
    con.setDoInput(true);

    con.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/json; charset=utf8");
    con.setRequestProperty("Accept", "application/json");
    con.setRequestProperty("Method", "POST");
    OutputStream os = con.getOutputStream();
    os.write(requestJson.toString().getBytes("UTF-8"));
    os.close();


    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();  
    int HttpResult =con.getResponseCode();
    if(HttpResult ==HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK){
    BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new   InputStreamReader(con.getInputStream(),"utf-8"));  

        String line = null;
        while ((line = br.readLine()) != null) {  
        sb.append(line + "\n");  
        }
         br.close(); 
         System.out.println(""+sb.toString());  

    }else{
        System.out.println(con.getResponseCode());
        System.out.println(con.getResponseMessage());  
    }  

}
public static JsonObject generateJSON () throws MalformedURLException

{
   String s = "http://www.example.com";
        s.replaceAll("/", "\\/");
    JsonObject reqparam=new JsonObject();
    reqparam.addProperty("type", "arl");
    reqparam.addProperty("action", "remove");
    reqparam.addProperty("domain", "staging");
    reqparam.addProperty("objects", s);
    return reqparam;

}
}

The value of requestJson.toString() is :

{"type":"arl","action":"remove","domain":"staging","objects":"http://www.example.com"}

HTTP response status code 415 Unsupported Media Type is a client error that is returned by the server to indicate that the content of a message body is not supported.

Usage

When the 415 Unsupported Media Type error message is received, it may be as a result of the Content-Type or Content-Encoding headers being rejected by the server. Alternatively, the server may return this error based upon further inspection of the message body.

In the latter case, the server may indicate this error because it has trouble parsing or otherwise deciphering or recognizing the content. In cases where the server recognizes the media but it is not supported, the 415 Unsupported Media Type status is most accurate. However, if the content cannot be parsed and may contain an error then HTTP response 400 Bad Request or 422 Unprocessable Entity may be more appropriate.

This error is similar to 406 Not Acceptable, except that it is based on the Content-Type and Content-Encoding headers, rather than on the Accept header.

Example

In the example, the client wants to send a message in plain text, but the server sends the 415 Unsupported Media Type error because it only accepts HTML messages. The client subsequently changes the Content-Type header but leaves the original message intact. The server can recognize that it is not a valid HTML structure and consequently, denies the request a second time.

Initial request

POST /blog/newmessage HTTP/1.1
Host: www.example.re
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Length: 24

Good morning, Everybody!

Initial response, based on examining the Content-Type header

HTTP/1.1 415 Unsupported Media Type
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Length: 138

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Unsupported Format</title>
  </head>
  <body>
   <p>Please use HTML to post new messages.</p>
  </body>
</html>

Subsequent request to attempt to fool server

POST /blog/newmessage HTTP/1.1
Host: www.example.re
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Length: 24

Good morning, Everybody!

Subsequent response, based on examining the message body

HTTP/1.1 415 Unsupported Media Type
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Length: 174

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Unsupported Format</title>
  </head>
  <body>
   <p>No HTML tags were found. Please ensure you use HTML to post new messages.</p>
  </body>
</html>

Code references

.NET

HttpStatusCode.UnsupportedMediaType

Rust

http::StatusCode::UNSUPPORTED_MEDIA_TYPE

Rails

:unsupported_media_type

Go

http.StatusUnsupportedMediaType

Symfony

Response::HTTP_UNSUPPORTED_MEDIA_TYPE

Python3.5+

http.HTTPStatus.UNSUPPORTED_MEDIA_TYPE

Java

java.net.HttpURLConnection.HTTP_UNSUPPORTED_TYPE

Apache HttpComponents Core

org.apache.hc.core5.http.HttpStatus.SC_UNSUPPORTED_MEDIA_TYPE

Angular

@angular/common/http/HttpStatusCode.UnsupportedMediaType

Takeaway

The 415 Unsupported Media Type status code is a client error that occurs when the client sends, or attempts to send, a message body to the server that contains an unsupported media type. It may be denied based on the Content-Type or Content-Encoding headers, or after inspection of the message body.

See also

• RFC 7231

While using images, video, and GIFs was not typical in the early days of the web, we now expect that a site offers appealing visuals as well as informative text. It’s also no surprise that when the communication between the browser and server goes awry due to a mismatch in media you’ll see an error. In this case, the “HTTP 415” error.

Because media is almost a prerequisite of the modern web, seeing an error relating to it means you’ll need a fix, fast. However, unlike other error fixes – especially for WordPress websites – this issue is one tough cookie. You may need some coding knowledge to solve this one, but this is something for later on.

For this post, we’re going to look into the “HTTP 415” error, and talk about what causes it. From there, we’ll discuss how you’d fix it.

Check Out Our Video Guide to Fixing the 415 Error

What the HTTP 415 Error Is

The “HTTP 415” error is one of many 4XX status codes. If you understand that it buddies up with errors such as a 404, you’ll begin to understand what’s happening.

In short, 4XX errors all deal with something missing that either the client or the server needs. The full name of the error – a “415 Unsupported Media Type” – gives the game away. The server is receiving a media file type that it doesn’t recognize or can’t accept.

Under most circumstances, you’ll see the “HTTP 415” error when you use an application programming interface (API). It’s a server-side issue, and next, we’ll discuss why this happens in the first place.

When the communication between the browser & server goes awry due to a mismatch in media, you’ll see an error. In this case, the “HTTP 415” error. 😅 Learn how to fix it here ✅Click to Tweet

Why the HTTP 415 Error Happens

Regardless of what you call it – the “HTTP 415” error, the “415 Unsupported Media Type” error – it means that the server refuses to accept a request from the browser. This will often be because whatever the browser sends (the payload) isn’t in the right format.

It’s a similar issue to the “422 Unprocessable Entity” error, as they both deal with the wrong data hitting the server, and the latter freaking out. It’s also worth pointing out that there is a distinction between the data the browser sends, and what the server receives. They may appear to be the same, but there’s a difference.

For example, a general error-catching strategy will stop a user from taking an unrecognized file type and uploading it through an interface that only accepts PNGs. However, if you don’t specify the exact types of media a server can process, it would trigger an error on the back end. On the front end, a user might not see anything at all. WordPress users get an admin screen notification:

The good news is that WordPress has a permissive infrastructure – think of the different file types you can upload to the Media Library, for example.

Even so, this is a developer-level issue rather than user error. As such, we’ll dive into what the fixes might be next.

How To Fix the HTTP 415 Error

To recap, the “HTTP 415” error tells you that the server won’t accept a file type because it doesn’t support that payload. This means there’s an issue within the underlying PHP code that needs a fix.

At this point, if you aren’t the developer of the site or theme, and you don’t have any coding skills, you’ll likely want to contact someone with expertise. Poking around in your theme’s files could cause an issue.

However, the Mozilla documentation on the error gives you two clues to begin your search – two ‘representation headers’: Content-Type, and Content-Encoding.

How the Content-Type and Content-Encoding Headers Work

The Content-Type header provides the client request with the resource before any encoding happens. It indicates the original media type of the resource. For example:

Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

Content-Type: image/jpeg;

In contrast, Content-Encoding is a list of all of the encodings the payload (i.e. your media) has, which is an indicator of how the file should be decoded in order to get the original payload.

Content-Encoding: gzip

Content-Encoding: br

As you can tell, file compression is a common way to encode data. This isn’t a problem in theory but will be if you don’t code this into the relevant files for your theme or plugin.

Finding a Fix For the HTTP 415 Error Code

Given the above, you’ll have three avenues to explore if you uncover an HTTP 415 error – all of them relating to your PHP code:

• You’ll want to ensure you send the right Content-Type header value.
• You will also want to make sure that the server can process whatever you specify for the Content-Type header.
• Check over what the server can process through the Accept header.

You won’t necessarily do this within core files, although you may do so as part of a REST API request. For example, a user from Stack Overflow had this exact issue when using pure PHP over cURL to make an API request.

There are two places to look. First, specify the correct file types within the Content-Type header:

$headers = array (

    ‘Content-Type’ => ‘application/json’,

   …

Second, this user had a typo while declaring an invalid header key using the wp_remote_post() function:

$arg = array (

    'header' => $headers,

    …

Because “header” misses an “s”, it would throw the “HTTP 415” error. However, you’ll also want to make sure that the client can accept the right file types too. You’ll do this through another header: Accept. For example:

Accept: text/html

Accept: image/*

This makes sure both ends of the chain – the client and server side – can accept and send the right file types, and put a halt to the “HTTP 415” error for good.

Let’s look into the “HTTP 415” error- and talk about what causes it- in this guide 🚀Click to Tweet

Summary

Website errors are often straightforward to fix. We’ve done so a number of times on the Kinsta blog, and the nature of the platform means you can be ready to rock and roll in a short while. However, the “HTTP 415” is different, in that a fix is hard to come by if you’re not a developer.

The solution is to work with the Content-Type header values to make sure you send the right one to the server. You may also have a simple typo. This seems like a “doh” moment, but in this case, they can be tricky to spot, especially if your concern is with the content types you send to the server.

While the “HTTP 415” error is yours to fix, for other issues with your website, Kinsta is on call. We have our support team standing by to help you understand your site on the rare occasions it fails to load.