diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 81425c1..e8c3179 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
+MAGIC_CFLAGS=-DHAVE_MAGIC
+MAGIC_LIBS=-lmagic
+
 CC=gcc
 #CFLAGS+=-O2 -Wall -march=native -pedantic -std=c99 -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=20120607L -D_XOPEN_SOURCE $(LUA_CFLAGS)
 #CFLAGS+=-O2 -Wall -march=native -pedantic -std=c99 -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=20120607L
-CFLAGS+=-g -Wall -pedantic -std=c99 -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=20120607L
-LIBS=-lmicrohttpd
+CFLAGS+=-g -Wall -pedantic -std=c99 -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=20120607L $(MAGIC_CFLAGS)
+LIBS=-lmicrohttpd $(MAGIC_LIBS)
 
 TARGET=fileshare
 SOURCE=main.c logger.c dirlisting.c util.c
diff --git a/main.c b/main.c
index 100aac6..8da970a 100644
--- a/main.c
+++ b/main.c
@@ -13,6 +13,10 @@
 
 #include <microhttpd.h>
 
+#ifdef HAVE_MAGIC
+#include <magic.h>
+#endif
+
 #include "logger.h"
 #include "templates.h"
 #include "dirlisting.h"
@@ -31,6 +35,10 @@ struct MHD_Response *error403Response;
 struct MHD_Response *error404Response;
 struct MHD_Response *error500Response;
 
+#ifdef HAVE_MAGIC
+magic_t magicCookie;
+#endif
+
 int running = 1;
 
 void request_completed(void *cls,
@@ -101,7 +109,6 @@ static int connection_handler(void * cls,
     return MHD_queue_response(connection, MHD_HTTP_FORBIDDEN, error403Response);
   }
 
-
   // check properties of the target file/dir
   if(stat(connstate->localFileName, &(connstate->targetStat)) == -1) {
     LOG(LVL_ERR, "Cannot stat %s: %s",
@@ -128,6 +135,13 @@ static int connection_handler(void * cls,
         connstate->targetStat.st_size,
         fd);
 
+#ifdef HAVE_MAGIC
+    // if libmagic is available, determine the correct MIME type for the file
+    const char *mimeType = magic_file(magicCookie, connstate->localFileName);
+    LOG(LVL_DEBUG, "MIME type for %s: %s", connstate->localFileName, mimeType);
+    MHD_add_response_header(response, MHD_HTTP_HEADER_CONTENT_TYPE, mimeType);
+#endif
+
     ret = MHD_queue_response(connection, MHD_HTTP_OK, response);
     MHD_destroy_response(response);
     return ret;
@@ -209,6 +223,23 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
     port = DEFAULT_PORT;
   }
 
+#ifdef HAVE_MAGIC
+  // initialize libmagic
+  magicCookie = magic_open(MAGIC_SYMLINK | MAGIC_MIME_TYPE);
+  if(!magicCookie) {
+    LOG(LVL_ERR, "Cannot allocate magic cookie");
+  } else {
+    // load the default database
+    if(magic_load(magicCookie, NULL) == -1) {
+      LOG(LVL_ERR, "Cannot load default magic database: %s", magic_error(magicCookie));
+      magic_close(magicCookie);
+      magicCookie = 0;
+    } else {
+      LOG(LVL_INFO, "libmagic initialized successfully.");
+    }
+  }
+#endif
+
   // create the static response for error pages
   error403Response = MHD_create_response_from_data(
       strlen(ERROR_403),
@@ -258,6 +289,10 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
   MHD_destroy_response(error404Response);
   MHD_destroy_response(error500Response);
 
+#ifdef HAVE_MAGIC
+  magic_close(magicCookie);
+#endif
+
   logger_shutdown();
   return EXIT_SUCCESS;
 }