diff --git a/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/views/assets.py b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/views/assets.py
index a06c07b4f2fa..daf47b0b3b1a 100644
--- a/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/views/assets.py
+++ b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/views/assets.py
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 import json
 import logging
 import math
-import mimetypes
 import re
 from functools import partial
 from urllib.parse import urljoin
@@ -46,8 +45,7 @@
 }
 
 
-mimetypes.init()
-all_mimetypes = list(mimetypes.types_map.values()) + ['text/javascript', 'text/php']
+allowed_mimetypes = settings.ALLOWED_FILE_TYPES
 
 
 @login_required
@@ -461,7 +459,7 @@ def _get_sanitized_filename(filename):
 
 
 def _validate_mimetype(file_content_type):
-    if file_content_type in all_mimetypes: return file_content_type
+    if file_content_type in allowed_mimetypes: return file_content_type
     raise InvalidFileTypeException('{} of filetype is not supported'.format(file_content_type))
 
 
diff --git a/cms/envs/common.py b/cms/envs/common.py
index a9ea495b0841..54748af34b27 100644
--- a/cms/envs/common.py
+++ b/cms/envs/common.py
@@ -2714,3 +2714,4 @@
 
 DISCUSSIONS_INCONTEXT_FEEDBACK_URL = ''
 DISCUSSIONS_INCONTEXT_LEARNMORE_URL = ''
+ALLOWED_FILE_TYPES = ['image/png', 'image/jpeg', 'application/pdf', 'application/msword', 'video/mp4']
\ No newline at end of file