MMS
MMS message types

MMS message types

MMS supports many different message types to enable you to send multimedia content. The multimedia attachments sent using MMS typically are images but you can also send other types of content, like audio and video files.

The media content may be displayed in different ways on some mobile devices. It is also possible that old devices may not be supported (for example, devices earlier than smartphones).

MMS file size limits

Unlike SMS, MMS does not have strict character limits for text. Standard text lengths for MMS can be up to 1600 characters, and some operators allow more (under the condition the message does not exceed the allowed MMS size).

Maximum MMS sizes vary depending on the network operator, but all operators will reliably handle messages of up to 300 KB of data.

Most of the US and Canadian carriers can handle up to 1 MB (results may vary).

MMS file formats

This section lists the file formats recommended when using MMS to send media content. The list does not include all potentially supported file types.

As extra assurance for some media types, it's recommended that you test sending MMS messages to a device that is commonly used in your region.

Multimedia contentMMS file format
ImagesJPEG, JPG
GIF
PNG
AudioMP3, MP4
MID, MIDI
WAV
VideoMPEG, MPG, MP4 – Support may vary by handset
3GP
TextTXT, TeXT, US-ASCII – UTF-8, US-ASCII (not UTF-16)
vCard – Limited support; some handsets do not accept vCards
ApplicationPDF – Support may vary by handset; installed PDF reader required
SMIL – Support may vary by handset
Passbook – iOS only
vCards A vCard is a file format that delivers the contact details for a person (or business) and can be sent via MMS. The file format is called Virtual Contact File (.vcf). Support for vCards via MMS has some limitations:
  • For iPhones, you can send vCard files as long as the content ID ends with .vcf
  • Some feature phones will accept vCards
  • Use the Content-Type: text/vcard and specify the character encoding
A vCard can contain special characters, as well as different types of content, and will be successfully processed by the major carriers (Tmobile, Verizon, ATT, Rogers, Telus).The most common special characters and content types are:
  • @ 
  • <, >
  • /
  • A URL
  • An encoded image within the vCard (the vCard as text and the image encoded in base64)
  • The use of accents within the vCard (Hola, cómo estas?)
  • ¿, ?
For most carriers, the recommended character encoding format for vCards in MMS is UTF-8. To help you to increase the success rate for your campaigns, consider the following guidelines in the request body:
  • Accents should NOT be used as part of the name of the content in the header: Content-Type: text/x-vcard; charset=UTF-8; name="ÓNE/SIZE.vcf"
  • Accents within the header result in message processing failure and the following error message is displayed: Invalid String format in VCard contentType/contentId

Supported mobile operators and limitations

The MMS APIs support both Mobile Originated (MO) and Mobile Terminated (MT) messages on the mobile network operators listed in the table below. For sending messages in other regions, please contact your account manager.

MMS message size

The size of an MMS message is the number of bytes of the entire message, including all headers and the multimedia content.

Recommended file size

Mobile operatorSender typeMaximum file sizeSender registrationSupports delivery receipts?Number of attachmentsFile types
United States
AT&TShort Code1 MBYesYesMultiplepng, jpg, gif, txt, mp3, mp4, mpeg, pdf, smil,vcf
10DLC1 MBYesYesMultiple
TFN525 KBYesYesMultiple
T-Mobile USAShort Code1 MBYesYesMultiplepng, jpg, gif, txt, mp3, mp4, mpeg, pdf, smil,vcf
10DLC1 MBYesYesMultiple
TFN525 KBYesYesMultiple
US CellularShort Code500 KBYesYesMultiplepng, jpg, gif, txt, mp3, mp4, mpeg, pdf, smil,vcf
10DLC500 KBYesYesMultiple
TFN525 KBYesYesMultiple
Verizon WirelessShort Code1.2 MBYesYesMultiplepng, jpg, gif, txt, mp3, mp4, mpeg, pdf, smil,vcf
10DLC1.2 MBYesYesMultiple
TFN525 KBYesYesMultiple
SprintShort Code2 MBYesYesMultiplepng, jpg, gif, txt, mp3, mp4, mpeg, pdf, smil,vcf
10DLC2 MBYesYesMultiple
TFN525 KBYesYesMultiple
Canada
Rogers WirelessShort Code750 KBYesYesMultipleimage/jpeg, image/png, image/vnd.wap.wbmp,
image/bmp, audio/amr, audio/wav,
audio/aac, video/3gpp, text/plain;
charset=utf-8, text/plain; charset=us-ascii
10DLCYesYesMultipleimage/jpeg, image/png, image/vnd.wap.wbmp,
image/bmp, audio/amr, audio/wav,
audio/aac, video/3gpp, text/plain;
charset=utf-8, text/plain; charset=us-ascii
TFN750 KBYesYesMultipleimage/jpeg, image/png, image/vnd.wap.wbmp,
image/bmp, audio/amr, audio/wav,
audio/aac, video/3gpp, text/plain;
charset=utf-8, text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Rogers Wireless - FidoShort Code750 KBYesYesMultipleimage/jpeg, image/png, image/vnd.wap.wbmp,
image/bmp, audio/amr, audio/wav,
audio/aac, video/3gpp, text/plain;
charset=utf-8, text/plain; charset=us-ascii
10DLCYesYesMultipleimage/jpeg, image/png, image/vnd.wap.wbmp,
image/bmp, audio/amr, audio/wav,
audio/aac, video/3gpp, text/plain;
charset=utf-8, text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Telus MobilityShort Code750 KBYesYesMultiplemage/jpeg, image/bmp, image/gif,
image/png, image/svg+xml, image/tiff,
image/webp, video/mp4, video/mpeg,
video/ogg, video/quicktime, video/webm,
video/x-ms-wmv, video/x-flv, audio/mp4,
audio/mpeg, audio/ogg, audio/webm,
audio/amr, audio/3gpp, text/plain,
text/css, text/csv, text/calendar,
text/vnd.wap.wml
10DLC750 KBYesYesMultiplemage/jpeg, image/bmp, image/gif,
image/png, image/svg+xml, image/tiff,
image/webp, video/mp4, video/mpeg,
video/ogg, video/quicktime, video/webm,
video/x-ms-wmv, video/x-flv, audio/mp4,
audio/mpeg, audio/ogg, audio/webm,
audio/amr, audio/3gpp, text/plain,
text/css, text/csv, text/calendar,
text/vnd.wap.wml
TFN750 KBYesYesMultiplemage/jpeg, image/bmp, image/gif,
image/png, image/svg+xml, image/tiff,
image/webp, video/mp4, video/mpeg,
video/ogg, video/quicktime, video/webm,
video/x-ms-wmv, video/x-flv, audio/mp4,
audio/mpeg, audio/ogg, audio/webm,
audio/amr, audio/3gpp, text/plain,
text/css, text/csv, text/calendar,
text/vnd.wap.wml
Freedom Mobile10DLC750 KBYesYesMultipleimage/jpeg, image/png, image/vnd.wap.wbmp,
image/bmp, audio/amr, audio/wav,
audio/aac, video/3gpp, text/plain;
charset=utf-8, text/plain; charset=us-ascii
TFN750 KBYesYesMultipleimage/jpeg, image/png, image/vnd.wap.wbmp,
image/bmp, audio/amr, audio/wav, audio/aac, video/3gpp, text/plain; charset=utf-8, text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Ice Wireless10DLC750 KBYesYesMultipleimage/jpeg, image/png, image/vnd.wap.wbmp,
image/bmp, audio/amr, audio/wav,
audio/aac, video/3gpp, text/plain;
charset=utf-8, text/plain; charset=us-ascii
TFN750 KBYesYesMultipleimage/jpeg, image/png, image/vnd.wap.wbmp,
image/bmp, audio/amr, audio/wav,
audio/aac, video/3gpp, text/plain;
charset=utf-8, text/plain; charset=us-ascii
SaskTel Mobility10DLC750 KBYesYesMultipleimage/jpeg, image/png, image/vnd.wap.wbmp,
image/bmp, audio/amr, audio/wav,
audio/aac, video/3gpp, text/plain;
charset=utf-8, text/plain; charset=us-ascii
TFN750 KBYesYesMultipleimage/jpeg, image/png, image/vnd.wap.wbmp,
image/bmp, audio/amr, audio/wav,
audio/aac, video/3gpp, text/plain;
charset=utf-8, text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Xplornet Mobile10DLC750 KBYesYesMultipleimage/jpeg, image/png, image/vnd.wap.wbmp,
image/bmp, audio/amr, audio/wav,
audio/aac, video/3gpp, text/plain;
charset=utf-8, text/plain; charset=us-ascii
TFN750 KBYesYesMultipleimage/jpeg, image/png, image/vnd.wap.wbmp,
image/bmp, audio/amr, audio/wav,
audio/aac, video/3gpp,
text/plain; charset=utf-8, text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Videotron10DLC750 KBYesYesMultipleimage/jpeg, image/png, image/vnd.wap.wbmp,
image/bmp, audio/amr, audio/wav,
audio/aac, video/3gpp, text/plain;
charset=utf-8, text/plain; charset=us-ascii
TFN750 KBYesYesMultipleimage/jpeg, image/png, image/vnd.wap.wbmp,
image/bmp, audio/amr, audio/wav,
audio/aac, video/3gpp, text/plain;
charset=utf-8, text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Bell MobilityShort Code750 KBYesYesMultipleimage/jpeg, image/png, image/vnd.wap.wbmp,
image/bmp, audio/amr, audio/wav,
audio/aac, video/3gpp, text/plain;
charset=utf-8, text/plain; charset=us-ascii
10DLC750 KBYesYesMultipleimage/jpeg, image/png, image/vnd.wap.wbmp,
image/bmp, audio/amr, audio/wav,
audio/aac, video/3gpp, text/plain;
charset=utf-8, text/plain; charset=us-ascii
TFN750 KBYesYesMultipleimage/jpeg, image/png, image/vnd.wap.wbmp,
image/bmp, audio/amr, audio/wav,
audio/aac, video/3gpp, text/plain;
charset=utf-8, text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Hong Kong
Able MobileAlphanumeric200 KBYes - only local entitiesYesMultiplejpg, gif
OBSVLNs200 KBYesYes1jpg, gif
China MobileVLN300 KBYesYesMultiplepng, jpg, gif, txt, smil, vcf
Korea
KT FreetelVLN300kb (1024x1024 resolution)Yes - only local entitiesYesMultiple (up to 3)jpg
LG U+VLN300kb (1024x1024 resolution)Yes - only local entitiesYesMultiple (up to 3)jpg
SK TelecomVLN300kb (1024x1024 resolution)Yes - only local entitiesYesMultiple (up to 3)jpg
Important

If your campaigns are time sensitive, limit the file size to 150 KB.

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