diff --git a/Lib/mimetypes.py b/Lib/mimetypes.py
index f33b658f10e5eb..434f5b37c5821c 100644
--- a/Lib/mimetypes.py
+++ b/Lib/mimetypes.py
@@ -447,6 +447,7 @@ def _default_mime_types():
         '.dvi'    : 'application/x-dvi',
         '.gtar'   : 'application/x-gtar',
         '.hdf'    : 'application/x-hdf',
+        '.h5'     : 'application/x-hdf5',
         '.latex'  : 'application/x-latex',
         '.mif'    : 'application/x-mif',
         '.cdf'    : 'application/x-netcdf',
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-05-18-17-29-30.bpo-40626.NeZufF.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-05-18-17-29-30.bpo-40626.NeZufF.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..fe652cd7ee39d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-05-18-17-29-30.bpo-40626.NeZufF.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Add h5 file extension as MIME Type application/x-hdf5, as per HDF Group recommendation for HDF5 formatted data files. Patch contributed by Mark Schwab.