A Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) multipart message is defined through the MIME standard allowing for both a text-based version and an HTML version of a message to be combined in to one email.
When a subscriber receives a MIME multipart email, their email client displays either the text-based version or the HTML version of the email message according to the subscriber's preference or based on their email client's capability.
For example:
- If the email client can accept and display HTML email messages, then the HTML version of the message is displayed to the subscriber. The text-based version of the email message is not displayed. Most email clients accept and display HTML email messages by default.
- If the subscriber chooses to receive only text-based email messages or if their email client can only display text-based email messages, then the text-based version of the email message is displayed. The HTML version of the email message is not displayed.