diff --git a/libmat2/archive.py b/libmat2/archive.py
index ec44ebde2a195c07cf545a49640cb58281ec0850..31d97a0facbc5f61b4bd69b6d535d1e148e1e5f8 100644
--- a/libmat2/archive.py
+++ b/libmat2/archive.py
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ class ArchiveBasedAbstractParser(abstract.AbstractParser):
                 # Some fileformats do require to have the `mimetype` file
                 # as the first file in the archive.
                 if self._get_member_name(item) == 'mimetype':
-                    items = [item] + items
+                    items.insert(0, item)
                 else:
                     items.append(item)