RFC 2046 does not define the term "internet media type"

[GPHemsley]

Section 4.1 states:

A MIME type represents an internet media type as defined by Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media Types. It can also be referred to as a MIME type record. [MIMETYPE]

Note: Standards are encouraged to consistently use the term MIME type to avoid confusion with the use of media type as described in Media Queries. [MEDIAQUERIES]

However, RFC 2046 ("[MIMETYPE]") does not define the term "internet media type".

This definition of "MIME type" was introduced in cc81ec48288944562c4554069da1d74a71e199fb.

Previously, the corresponding text read:

The MIME type of a resource is a technical hint about the use and format of that resource. [MIMETYPE]

Note: A MIME type is sometimes called an Internet media type in protocol literature, but consistently using the term MIME type avoids confusion with the use of "media type" as described in the Media Queries CSS specification. [MEDIAQUERIES-4]

(Both before and after this change, the media-type production in RFC 7231 is used to define a "valid MIME type (string)", which is a separate concept.)

[GPHemsley]

It's possible that 2f83f87025e0392a22c96ea29a60e1e19500c1f8 muddied the waters here, because it lost the distinction between normative and non-normative references. (The reference to [MIMETYPE] was meant to be non-normative.)

[annevk]

On the one hand it makes sense for it to be non-normative as there's nothing there we need implementations to implement, but then we would need a definition that stands on its own. As it stands it seems more like a normative dependency, at least for the "meaning" part.

I suspect Ian prefixed it with "internet" since the IETF came up with that definition, but not sure. Seems fine to drop it.