byteamagic

pg_byteamagic : Detect MIME types and file formats from PostgreSQL bytea values

Overview

Packages

Source

pig build pkg pg_byteamagic;		# build rpm/deb

Install

Make sure PGDG and PIGSTY repo available:

pig repo add pgsql -u   # add both repo and update cache

Install this extension with pig:

pig install pg_byteamagic;		# install via package name, for the active PG version
pig install byteamagic;		# install by extension name, for the current active PG version

pig install byteamagic -v 18;   # install for PG 18
pig install byteamagic -v 17;   # install for PG 17
pig install byteamagic -v 16;   # install for PG 16
pig install byteamagic -v 15;   # install for PG 15
pig install byteamagic -v 14;   # install for PG 14

Create this extension with:

CREATE EXTENSION byteamagic;

Usage

Sources: official repo, official doc

byteamagic runs libmagic on bytea values, so PostgreSQL can identify the MIME type or human-readable file type of blobs stored in the database. The package name is pg_byteamagic, but the extension name is byteamagic.

CREATE EXTENSION byteamagic;

SELECT byteamagic_mime(data) FROM files;
SELECT byteamagic_text(data) FROM files;

Functions

• byteamagic_mime(bytea) returns text: MIME type, equivalent to file --mime-type.
• byteamagic_text(bytea) returns text: descriptive file type text, equivalent to file.

Common Use

SELECT
  id,
  byteamagic_mime(blob) AS mime,
  byteamagic_text(blob) AS kind
FROM uploads;

Caveats

• It only inspects bytea content; there are no operators, custom types, or extra SQL management objects.
• Build/install requires PostgreSQL development headers plus the system libmagic development package.
• The upstream documentation is minimal; current user-facing behavior is unchanged from the long-standing doc page.