YouTube YouTube is a video - sharing website , created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005 , on which users can upload , view and share videos . The company is based in San Bruno , California , and uses Adobe Flash Video and HTML5 technology to display a wide variety of user - generated video content , including movie clips , TV clips , and music videos , as well as amateur content such as video blogging , short original videos , and educational videos . Most of the content on YouTube has been uploaded by individuals , although media corporations including CBS , the BBC , VEVO , Hulu , and other organizations offer some of their material via the site , as part of the YouTube partnership program . Unregistered users can watch videos , while registered users can upload an unlimited number of videos . Videos considered to contain potentially offensive content are available only to registered users at least 18 years old . In November 2006 , YouTube , LLC was bought by Google for US $ 1 . 65 billion , and now operates as a subsidiary of Google . Company history . YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley , Steve Chen , and Jawed Karim , who were all early employees of PayPal . Hurley had studied design at Indiana University of Pennsylvania , while Chen and Karim studied computer science together at the University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign . According to a story that has often been repeated in the media , Hurley and Chen developed the idea for YouTube during the early months of 2005 , after they had experienced difficulty sharing videos that had been shot at a dinner party at Chen ' s apartment in San Francisco . Karim did not attend the party and denied that it had occurred , while Chen commented that the idea that YouTube was founded after a dinner party " was probably very strengthened by marketing ideas around creating a story that was very digestible " . YouTube began as a venture - funded technology startup , primarily from a $ 11 . 5 million investment by Sequoia Capital between November 2005 and April 2006 . YouTube ' s early headquarters were situated above a pizzeria and Japanese restaurant in San Mateo , California . The domain name codice _ 1 was activated on February 14 , 2005 , and the website was developed over the subsequent months . The first YouTube video was entitled " Me at the zoo " , and shows co - founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo . The video was uploaded on April 23 , 2005 , and can still be viewed on the site . YouTube offered the public a beta test of the site in May 2005 , six months before the official launch in November 2005 . The site grew rapidly , and in July 2006 the company announced that more than 65 , 000 new videos were being uploaded every day , and that the site was receiving 100 million video views per day . According to data published by market research company comScore , YouTube is the dominant provider of online video in the United States , with a market share of around 43 percent and more than 14 billion videos viewed in May 2010 . YouTube says that roughly 60 hours of new videos are uploaded to the site every minute , and that around three quarters of the material comes from outside the U . S . The site has eight hundred million unique users a month . It is estimated that in 2007 YouTube consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet in 2000 . Alexa ranks YouTube as the third most visited website on the Internet , behind Google and Facebook . The choice of the name codice _ 1 led to problems for a similarly named website , codice _ 3 . The owner of the site , Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment , filed a lawsuit against YouTube in November 2006 after being overloaded on a regular basis by people looking for YouTube . Universal Tube has since changed the name of its website to codice _ 4 . In October 2006 , Google Inc . announced that it had acquired YouTube for $ 1 . 65 billion in Google stock , and the deal was finalized on November 13 , 2006 . Google does not provide detailed figures for YouTube ' s running costs , and YouTube ' s revenues in 2007 were noted as " not material " in a regulatory filing . In June 2008 , a " Forbes " magazine article projected the 2008 revenue at $ 200 million , noting progress in advertising sales . Visitors to YouTube spend an average of fifteen minutes a day on the site , in contrast to the four or five hours a day spent by a typical U . S . citizen watching television . YouTube entered into a marketing and advertising partnership with NBC in June 2006 . In November 2008 , YouTube reached an agreement with MGM , Lions Gate Entertainment , and CBS , allowing the companies to post full - length films and television episodes on the site , accompanied by advertisements in a section for US viewers called " Shows " . The move was intended to create competition with websites such as Hulu , which features material from NBC , Fox , and Disney . In November 2009 , YouTube launched a version of " Shows " available to UK viewers , offering around 4 , 000 full - length shows from more than 60 partners . In January 2010 , YouTube introduced an online film rentals service , which is currently available only to users in the US , Canada and the UK . The service offers over 6 , 000 films . In March 2010 , YouTube began free streaming of certain content , including 60 cricket matches of the Indian Premier League . According to YouTube , this was the first worldwide free online broadcast of a major sporting event . On March 31 , 2010 , the YouTube website launched a new design , with the aim of simplifying the interface and increasing the time users spend on the site . Google product manager Shiva Rajaraman commented : " We really felt like we needed to step back and remove the clutter . " In May 2010 , it was reported that YouTube was serving more than two billion videos a day , which it described as " nearly double the prime - time audience of all three major US television networks combined " . In May 2011 , YouTube reported in its company blog that the site was receiving more than three billion views per day . In January 2012 , YouTube stated that the figure had increased to four billion videos streamed per day . In October 2010 , Hurley announced that he would be stepping down as chief executive officer of YouTube to take an advisory role , and that Salar Kamangar would take over as head of the company . In April 2011 , James Zern , a YouTube software engineer , revealed that 30 percent of videos accounted for 99 percent of views on the site . In November 2011 , the Google + social networking site was integrated directly with YouTube and the Chrome web browser , allowing YouTube videos to be viewed from within the Google + interface . In December 2011 , YouTube launched a new version of the site interface , with the video channels displayed in a central column on the home page , similar to the news feeds of social networking sites . At the same time , a new version of the YouTube logo was introduced with a darker shade of red , the first change in design since October 2006 . Features . Video technology . Playback . Viewing YouTube videos on a personal computer requires the Adobe Flash Player plug - in to be installed on the browser . The Adobe Flash Player plug - in is one of the most common pieces of software installed on personal computers and accounts for almost 75 % of online video material . In January 2010 , YouTube launched an experimental version of the site that uses the built - in multimedia capabilities of web browsers supporting the HTML5 standard . This allows videos to be viewed without requiring Adobe Flash Player or any other plug - in to be installed . The YouTube site has a page that allows supported browsers to opt in to the HTML5 trial . Only browsers that support HTML5 Video using the H . 264 or WebM formats can play the videos , and not all videos on the site are available . Uploading . All YouTube users can upload videos up to 15 minutes each in duration . Users who have a good track record of complying with the site ' s Community Guidelines may be offered the ability to upload videos up to 12 hours in length , which requires verifying the account , normally through a mobile phone . When YouTube was launched in 2005 , it was possible to upload long videos , but a ten - minute limit was introduced in March 2006 after YouTube found that the majority of videos exceeding this length were unauthorized uploads of television shows and films . The 10 - minute limit was increased to 15 minutes in July 2010 . File size is limited to 2 GB for uploads from the YouTube web page , or 20 GB if up - to - date browser versions are used . YouTube accepts videos uploaded in most container formats , including . AVI , . MKV , . MOV , . MP4 , DivX , . FLV , and . ogg and . ogv . These include video formats such as MPEG - 4 , MPEG , VOB , and . WMV . It also supports 3GP , allowing videos to be uploaded from mobile phones . Videos with progressive scan ning or interlaced scanning can be uploaded , but for the best video quality , YouTube suggests interlaced videos are deinterlaced prior to uploading . All the video formats on YouTube use progressive scanning . Quality and codecs . YouTube originally offered videos at only one quality level , displayed at a resolution of 320x240 pixel s using the Sorenson Spark codec ( a variant of H . 263 ) , with mono MP3 audio . In June 2007 , YouTube added an option to watch videos in 3GP format on mobile phones . In March 2008 , a high quality mode was added , which increased the resolution to 480x360 pixels . In November 2008 , 720p HD support was added . At the time of the 720p launch , the YouTube player was changed from a aspect ratio to a widescreen . With this new feature , YouTube began a switchover to H . 264 / MPEG - 4 AVC as its default video compression format . In November 2009 , 1080p HD support was added . In July 2010 , YouTube announced that it had launched a range of videos in 4K format , which allows a resolution of up to 4096x3072 pixels . However , it was lowered to 2048 x 1536 as of 2012 . YouTube videos are available in a range of quality levels . The former names of standard quality ( SQ ) , high quality ( HQ ) and high definition ( HD ) have been replaced by numerical values representing the vertical resolution of the video . The default video stream is encoded in H . 264 / MPEG - 4 AVC format , with stereo AAC audio . 3D videos . In a video posted on July 21 , 2009 , YouTube software engineer Peter Bradshaw announced that YouTube users can now upload 3D videos . The videos can be viewed in several different ways , including the common anaglyph ( cyan / red lens ) method which utilizes glasses worn by the viewer to achieve the 3D effect . The YouTube Flash player can display stereoscopic content interleaved in rows , columns or a checkerboard pattern , side - by - side or anaglyph using a red / cyan , green / magenta or blue / yellow combination . In May 2011 , an HTML5 version of the YouTube player began supporting side - by - side 3D footage that is compatible with Nvidia 3D Vision . Content accessibility . YouTube offers users the ability to view its videos on web pages outside their website . Each YouTube video is accompanied by a piece of HTML that can be used to embed it on any page on the Web . This functionality is often used to embed YouTube videos in social networking pages and blogs . Embedding , as well as ranking and commenting , can be disabled by the video owner . YouTube does not usually offer a download link for its videos , and intends for them to be viewed through its website interface . A small number of videos , such as the weekly addresses by President Barack Obama , can be downloaded as MP4 files . Numerous third - party web sites , applications and browser plug - ins allow users to download YouTube videos . In February 2009 , YouTube announced a test service , allowing some partners to offer video downloads for free or for a fee paid through Google Checkout . The default settings when uploading a video to YouTube will retain a copyright on the video for the uploader , but since July 2012 it has been possible to select a Creative Commons license as the default , allowing other users to reuse and remix the material if it is free of copyright . Platforms . Some smartphone s are capable of accessing YouTube videos , dependent on the provider and the data plan . YouTube Mobile was launched in June 2007 , using RTSP streaming for the video . Not all of YouTube ' s videos are available on the mobile version of the site . Since June 2007 , YouTube ' s videos have been available for viewing on a range of Apple products . This required YouTube ' s content to be transcoded into Apple ' s preferred video standard , H . 264 , a process that took several months . YouTube videos can be viewed on devices including Apple TV , iPod Touch and the iPhone . In July 2010 , the mobile version of the site was relaunched based on HTML5 , avoiding the need to use Adobe Flash Player and optimized for use with touch screen controls . The mobile version is also available as an app for the Android platform . In September 2012 , YouTube launched its first app for the iPhone , following the decision to drop YouTube as one of the preloaded apps in the iPhone 5 and iOS 6 operating system . A TiVo service update in July 2008 allowed the system to search and play YouTube videos . In January 2009 , YouTube launched " YouTube for TV " , a version of the website tailored for set - top boxes and other TV - based media devices with web browsers , initially allowing its videos to be viewed on the PlayStation 3 and Wii video game console s . In June 2009 , YouTube XL was introduced , which has a simplified interface designed for viewing on a standard television screen . YouTube is also available for the Xbox Live . On November 15 , 2012 , Google launched an official app for the Wii , allowing users to watch YouTube videos from the Wii channel . An app is also available for Wii U , and videos can be viewed on the Wii U Internet Browser using HTML5 . Localization . On June 19 , 2007 , Google CEO Eric Schmidt was in Paris to launch the new localization system . The interface of the website is available with localized versions in 42 countries , one territory ( Hong Kong ) and a worldwide version . The YouTube interface suggests which local version should be chosen on the basis of the IP address of the user . In some cases , the message " This video is not available in your country " may appear because of copyright restrictions or inappropriate content . The interface of the YouTube website is available in 54 different language versions , including Catalan , Danish , Finnish , Greek , Hungarian , Norwegian and Slovene , which do not have local channel versions . Access to YouTube was blocked in Turkey between 2008 and 2010 , following controversy over the posting of videos deemed insulting to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and some material offensive to Muslims . In October 2012 , a local version of YouTube was launched in Turkey , with the domain codice _ 5 . The local version is subject to the content regulations found in Turkish law . In March 2009 , a dispute between YouTube and the British royalty collection agency PRS for Music led to premium music videos being blocked for YouTube users in the United Kingdom . The removal of videos posted by the major record companies occurred after failure to reach agreement on a licensing deal . The dispute was resolved in September 2009 . In April 2009 , a similar dispute led to the removal of premium music videos for users in Germany . April Fools . YouTube has featured an April Fools prank on the site on April 1 of every year since 2008 : Social impact . While other video hosting websites had been launched before YouTube in 2005 ( including Metacafe in 2003 and Vimeo in 2004 ) , YouTube was conceived to be , in the words of Jawed Karim , a video version of the rating site Hot or Not . Karim commented that Hot or Not was a site " where anyone could upload content that everyone else could view . That was a new concept because up until that point , it was always the people who owned the website who would provide the content . " In December 2006 , " Time " magazine wrote : " YouTube is to video browsing what a Wal - Mart Supercenter is to shopping : everything is there , and all you have to do is walk in the door . " An early example of the social impact of YouTube was the success of The Bus Uncle video in 2006 . It shows a heated conversation between a youth and an older man on a bus in Hong Kong , and was discussed widely in the mainstream media . Another YouTube video to receive extensive coverage is " guitar " , which features a performance of Pachelbel ' s Canon on an electric guitar . The name of the performer is not given in the video . After it received millions of views " The New York Times " revealed the identity of the guitarist as Lim Jeong - hyun , a 23 - year - old from South Korea who had recorded the track in his bedroom . This video has since been removed from YouTube . " Charlie Bit My Finger " , which was uploaded on May 22 , 2007 , is a viral video that has received the most views of any user - generated YouTube video , with over 500 million views . The clip features two English brothers , with one - year - old Charlie biting the finger of his brother Harry , aged three . In " Time " ' s list of YouTube ' s 50 greatest viral videos of all time , " Charlie Bit My Finger " was ranked at number one . YouTube was awarded a 2008 Peabody Award and cited for being " a ' Speakers ' Corner ' that both embodies and promotes democracy " . In December 2009 , " Entertainment Weekly " placed YouTube on its end - of - the - decade " best - of " list , describing it as : " Providing a safe home for piano - playing cats , celeb goof - ups , and overzealous lip - synchers since 2005 . " The most viewed video on YouTube is the music video of the song Gangnam Style by PSY . It was added to the site on July 15 , 2012 , and became the first YouTube video to receive over 1 billion views on December 21 , 2012 . The video has inspired numerous parodies . Music industry . In May 2011 , YouTube launched its own weekly chart , the YouTube 100 , which aims to track the popularity of music videos on the site . In 2013 , the Billboard charts began including online streams in its Top 100 lists , allowing the popularity of YouTube videos to influence the position of a song in the charts . YouTube and Billboard held talks for nearly two years regarding the proposed changes . As of 2013 , the following music charts utilize YouTube views as part of its ranking methodology : Besides official music videos , views from user - generated clips utilizing authorized audio are also factored into the Billboard charts . Community policy . YouTube has a set of community guidelines aimed to reduce abuse of the site ' s features . Generally prohibited material includes sexually explicit content , videos of animal abuse , shock video s , content uploaded without the copyright holder ' s consent , hate speech , spam , and predatory behaviour . Despite the guidelines , YouTube has faced criticism from news sources for content in violation of these guidelines . Copyrighted material . At the time of uploading a video , YouTube users are shown a screen with the message " Do not upload any TV shows , music videos , music concerts or advertisements without permission , unless they consist entirely of content that you created yourself " . Despite this advice , there are still many unauthorized clips of copyrighted material on YouTube . YouTube does not view videos before they are posted online , and it is left to copyright holders to issue a takedown notice pursuant to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act . Three successful complaints for copyright infringement against a user account will result in the account and all of its uploaded videos being deleted . Organizations including Viacom , Mediaset , and the English Premier League have filed lawsuits against YouTube , claiming that it has done too little to prevent the uploading of copyrighted material . Viacom , demanding $ 1 billion in damages , said that it had found more than 150 , 000 unauthorized clips of its material on YouTube that had been viewed " an astounding 1 . 5 billion times " . YouTube responded by stating that it " goes far beyond its legal obligations in assisting content owners to protect their works " . During the same court battle , Viacom won a court ruling requiring YouTube to hand over 12 terabyte s of data detailing the viewing habits of every user who has watched videos on the site . The decision was criticized by the Electronic Frontier Foundation , which called the court ruling " a setback to privacy rights " . In June 2010 , Viacom ' s lawsuit against Google was rejected in a summary judgment , with U . S . federal Judge Louis L . Stanton stating that Google was protected by provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act . Viacom announced its intention to appeal the ruling . On April 5 , 2012 , the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reinstated the case , allowing Viacom ' s lawsuit against Google to be heard in court again . In August 2008 , a US court ruled in " Lenz v . Universal Music Corp . " that copyright holders cannot order the removal of an online file without first determining whether the posting reflected fair use of the material . The case involved Stephanie Lenz from Gallitzin , Pennsylvania , who had made a home video of her 13 - month - old son dancing to Prince ' s song " Let ' s Go Crazy " , and posted the 29 - second video on YouTube . In the case of " Smith v . Summit Entertainment LLC " , professional singer Matt Smith sued Summit Entertainment for the wrongful use of copyright takedown notice on YouTube . He asserted seven causes of action , and four were ruled in Smith ' s favor . In April 2012 , a court in Hamburg ruled that YouTube could be held responsible for copyrighted material posted by its users . The performance rights organization GEMA argued that YouTube had not done enough to prevent the uploading of German copyrighted music . YouTube responded by stating : " We remain committed to finding a solution to the music licensing issue in Germany that will benefit artists , composers , authors , publishers and record labels , as well as the wider YouTube community " . Content ID . In June 2007 , YouTube began trials of a system for automatic detection of uploaded videos that infringe copyright . The system was regarded by Google CEO Eric Schmidt as necessary for resolving lawsuits such as the one from Viacom , which alleged that YouTube profited from pirated content . The system , which became known as Content ID , creates an ID File for copyrighted audio and video material , and stores it in a database . When a video is uploaded , it is checked against the database , and flags the video as a copyright violation if a match is found . When this occurs , the content owner has the choice of blocking the video to make it unviewable , tracking the viewing statistics of the video , or adding advertisements to the video . YouTube describes Content ID as " very accurate in finding uploads that look similar to reference files that are of sufficient length and quality to generate an effective ID File " . Content ID accounts for over a third of the monetized views on YouTube . An independent test in 2009 uploaded multiple versions of the same song to YouTube , and concluded that while the system was " surprisingly resilient " in finding copyright violations in the audio tracks of videos , it was not infallible . The use of Content ID to remove material automatically has led to controversy in some cases , as the videos have not been checked by a human for fair use . If a YouTube user disagrees with a decision by Content ID , it is possible to fill in a form disputing the decision . YouTube has cited the effectiveness of Content ID as one of the reasons why the site ' s rules were modified in December 2010 to allow some users to upload videos of unlimited length . Controversial content . YouTube has also faced criticism over the offensive content in some of its videos . The uploading of videos containing defamation , pornography , and material encouraging criminal conduct is prohibited by YouTube ' s terms of service . Controversial content has included that pertaining to Holocaust denial and the Hillsborough disaster , in which 96 football fans from Liverpool were crushed to death in 1989 . YouTube relies on its users to flag the content of videos as inappropriate , and a YouTube employee will view a flagged video to determine whether it violates the site ' s terms of service . In July 2008 , the Culture and Media Committee of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom stated that it was " unimpressed " with YouTube ' s system for policing its videos , and argued that " proactive review of content should be standard practice for sites hosting user - generated content " . YouTube responded by stating : " We have strict rules on what ' s allowed , and a system that enables anyone who sees inappropriate content to report it to our 24 / 7 review team and have it dealt with promptly . We educate our community on the rules and include a direct link from every YouTube page to make this process as easy as possible for our users . Given the volume of content uploaded on our site , we think this is by far the most effective way to make sure that the tiny minority of videos that break the rules come down quickly . " In October 2010 , U . S . Congressman Anthony Weiner urged YouTube to take down from its website videos of imam Anwar al - Awlaki , saying that by hosting al - Awlaki ' s messages , " We are facilitating the recruitment of homegrown terror " . British security minister Pauline Neville - Jones commented : " These Web sites would categorically not be allowed in the U . K . They incite cold - blooded murder , and as such are surely contrary to the public good . " In November 2010 , YouTube removed from its site some of the hundreds of videos featuring al - Awlaki ' s calls to " jihad " . It stated that it had removed videos that violated the site ' s guidelines prohibiting " dangerous or illegal activities such as bomb - making , hate speech and incitement to commit violent acts " , or came from accounts " registered by a member of a designated foreign terrorist organization " . In December 2010 , YouTube added " promotes terrorism " to the list of reasons that users can give when flagging a video as inappropriate . User comments . Most videos enable users to leave comments , and these have attracted attention for the negative aspects of both their form and content . In 2006 , " Time " praised Web 2 . 0 for enabling " community and collaboration on a scale never seen before " , and added that YouTube " harnesses the stupidity of crowds as well as its wisdom . Some of the comments on YouTube make you weep for the future of humanity just for the spelling alone , never mind the obscenity and the naked hatred " . " The Guardian " in 2009 described users ' comments on YouTube as : Juvenile , aggressive , misspelled , sexist , homophobic , swinging from raging at the contents of a video to providing a pointlessly detailed description followed by a LOL , YouTube comments are a hotbed of infantile debate and unashamed ignorance – with the occasional burst of wit shining through . In September 2008 , " The Daily Telegraph " commented that YouTube was " notorious " for " some of the most confrontational and ill - formed comment exchanges on the internet " , and reported on YouTube Comment Snob , " a new piece of software that blocks rude and illiterate posts " . " The Huffington Post " noted in April 2012 that finding comments on YouTube that appear " offensive , stupid and crass " to the " vast majority " of the people is hardly difficult . Censorship and filtering . Several countries have blocked access to YouTube .