diff --git a/include/netutils/httpd.h b/include/netutils/httpd.h
index cba69574f..1c981fb85 100644
--- a/include/netutils/httpd.h
+++ b/include/netutils/httpd.h
@@ -199,6 +199,7 @@ uint16_t httpd_fs_count(char *name);
 int httpd_send_datachunk(int sockfd, void *data, int len, bool chunked);
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_NETUTILS_HTTPD_DIRLIST
+bool httpd_is_file(FAR const char *filename);
 ssize_t httpd_dirlist(int outfd, FAR struct httpd_fs_file *file);
 #endif
 
diff --git a/netutils/webserver/httpd.c b/netutils/webserver/httpd.c
index c497af013..503c0eedf 100644
--- a/netutils/webserver/httpd.c
+++ b/netutils/webserver/httpd.c
@@ -494,11 +494,7 @@ static int send_headers(struct httpd_state *pstate, int status, int len)
   ptr = strrchr(pstate->ht_filename, ISO_period);
   if (ptr == NULL)
     {
-#ifdef CONFIG_NETUTILS_HTTPD_DIRLIST
-      mime = "text/html";
-#else
       mime = "application/octet-stream";
-#endif
     }
   else
     {
@@ -514,6 +510,15 @@ static int send_headers(struct httpd_state *pstate, int status, int len)
         }
     }
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_NETUTILS_HTTPD_DIRLIST
+  if (false == httpd_is_file(pstate->ht_filename))
+    {
+      /* we assume that it's a directory */
+
+      mime = "text/html";
+    }
+#endif
+
   if (len >= 0)
     {
       (void)snprintf(contentlen, HTTPD_MAX_CONTENTLEN,
diff --git a/netutils/webserver/httpd_dirlist.c b/netutils/webserver/httpd_dirlist.c
index 1c48a5691..48226a635 100644
--- a/netutils/webserver/httpd_dirlist.c
+++ b/netutils/webserver/httpd_dirlist.c
@@ -114,6 +114,38 @@
  * Public Functions
  ****************************************************************************/
 
+/****************************************************************************
+ * Name: httpd_is_file
+ ****************************************************************************/
+
+bool httpd_is_file(FAR const char *filename)
+{
+  char *path;
+  int fd;
+  bool ret = false;
+
+  path = malloc(CONFIG_NAME_MAX);
+  ASSERT(path);
+
+  snprintf(path, CONFIG_NAME_MAX, "%s/%s",
+           CONFIG_NETUTILS_HTTPD_PATH, filename);
+
+  fd = open(path, "O_RDONLY");
+
+  if (-1 != fd)
+    {
+      close(fd);
+      ret = true;
+    }
+
+  free(path);
+  return ret;
+}
+
+/****************************************************************************
+ * Name: httpd_dirlist
+ ****************************************************************************/
+
 ssize_t httpd_dirlist(int outfd, FAR struct httpd_fs_file *file)
 {
   struct dirent *dent;