YouTube

YouTube is an American video sharing platform and social media platform, it's headquarters are located in San Bruno, California, at the United States owned by a company known as Google, or Google LLC. The platform was founded on February 14, 2005 by ex-PayPal employees — Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim. The site is often used to upload videos, or to watch it. Users who are known to upload videos in the platform are known as YouTubers. The platform continues to grow over time, and as more new videos are uploaded, and new Youtubers rise to popularity.
==Background==
YouTube allows users to upload videos, view them, rate them with likes and dislikes, share them, add videos to playlists, report, make comments on videos, and subscribe to other users. The slogan "Broadcast Yourself" used for several years and the reference to user profiles as "Channels" signifies the premise upon which the platform is based, of allowing anyone to operate a personal broadcasting station in resemblance to television with the extension of video on demand.
Similar to most streaming services, YouTube imposes restrictions on video length to manage bandwidth and data storage. For this reason, users on the platform often use services that allow them to download videos to watch offline.
==Features==
YouTube primarily uses the VP9 and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC video codecs, and the Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP protocol. MPEG-4 Part 2 streams contained within 3GP containers are also provided for low bandwidth connections. By January 2019, YouTube had begun rolling out videos in AV1 format.
YouTube also has a setting for the available quality resolution of a YouTube video, ranging from 144p to 8K (4320p), including frame-per-seconds, whose maximum is 60 FPS, livestream features, and community posts for YouTubers. 
YouTube has an automatic system to upload free audio and music from other multimedia platforms, notably games and libraries.
==International and Localization==
As of 2024, the interface of YouTube is available with localized versions in 104 countries, one territory (Hong Kong) and a worldwide version. and continues to extend the availability of its localized version to additional countries and regions.https://web.archive.org/web/20240311120528/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6141269
If YouTube is unable to identify a specific country or region according to the IP address or the network of the computer, the default location for localization is the United States. However, YouTube offers language and content preferences for all accessible countries, regions, and languages.https://web.archive.org/web/20240311120528/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/87604
==Statistics==
YouTube has over two billion users, it is one of the top online sites, and it has an Alexa ranking at number 2.http://web.archive.org/web/20181104030844/https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/youtube.com The site is known for its subscribe feature: updates from YouTube channels can be piped into a feed system.
==History==
YouTube was founded by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. The trio were early employees of PayPal, which left them enriched after the company was bought by eBay. Hurley had studied design at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Chen and Karim studied computer science together at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
The domain name "YouTube.com" was activated on February 14, 2005, with video upload options being integrated on April 23, 2005, after being named "Tune In, Hook Up" ─ the original idea of Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim. The concept was an online dating service that ultimately failed but had an exceptional video and uploading platform.https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/16/youtube-past-video-dating-website
The first YouTube video, titled Me at the zoo, was uploaded on April 23, 2005, and shows co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo and currently has over 120 million views and almost 5 million likes.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2480280/YouTube-Overnight-success-has-sparked-a-backlash.html
As of June 2005, YouTube's slogan was "Your Digital Video Repository".
YouTube began as an angel-funded enterprise working from a makeshift office in a garage. In November 2005, venture firm Sequoia Capital invested an initial $3.5 million.https://web.archive.org/web/20181122133536/http://members.forbes.com/global/2006/0313/027.html and Roelof Botha (a partner of the firm and former CFO of PayPal) joined the YouTube board of directors. In April 2006, Sequoia and Artis Capital Management invested an additional $8 million in the company, which had experienced significant growth in its first few months.https://web.archive.org/web/20161122005540/http://thornbury.biz/sequoias-investment-memo-youtube/
After opening on a beta service in May 2005, the website of YouTube, which has a domain name, YouTube.com, was trafficking around 30,000 viewers a day in just months of time. After launching six months later, they would be hosting well over two million viewers a day on the website. By March 2006, the site had more than 25 million videos uploaded and was generating around 20,000 uploads a day.https://www.britannica.com/topic/YouTube
During the summer of 2006, YouTube was one of the fastest growing sites on the World Wide Web, hosting more than 65,000 new video uploads. The site delivered an average of 100 million video views per day in July.
"YouTube is the Fastest Growing Website", Gavin O'malley, Advertising Age, July 21, 2006.https://web.archive.org/web/20181231004209/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-07-16-youtube-views_x.htm However, this did not come without any problems, the rapid growth in users meant YouTube had to keep up with it technologically speaking. They needed new equipment and wider broadband internet connection to serve an ever growing audience. The increasing copyright infringement problems and lack in commercializing YouTube eventually led to outsourcing to Google who later failed in their own video platform "Google Video".
https://web.archive.org/web/20200419132946/https://www.britannica.com/topic/YouTube
It was ranked the fifth-most-popular website on Alexa, far out-pacing even MySpace's rate of growth.https://web.archive.org/web/20071103011300/http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?&range=max&size=large&compare_sites=myspace.com&y=r&url=youtube.com#top
YouTube entered into a marketing and advertising partnership with NBC in June 2006.http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/online-video-the-market-is-hot-but-business 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.https://web.archive.org/web/20181231004209/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-07-16-youtube-views_x.htm
The choice of the name www.youtube.com led to problems for a similarly named website, www.utube.com. That site's owner, Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment, filed a lawsuit against YouTube in November 2006, after being regularly overloaded by people looking for YouTube. Universal Tube subsequently changed its website to www.utubeonline.com.
https://web.archive.org/web/20210109144540/https://money.cnn.com/2006/10/12/news/companies/utube/index.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20070403234216/http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article623050.ece
On October 9, 2006, Google announced that they had acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion in Google stock.https://web.archive.org/web/20210305094811/https://money.cnn.com/2006/10/09/technology/googleyoutube_deal/https://web.archive.org/web/20170316024815/https://techcrunch.com/2006/10/09/google-has-acquired-youtube/ The deal was finalized on November 13, 2006. Google's acquisition launched newfound interest in video-sharing sites; IAC, which now owned Vimeo, focused on supporting the content creators to distinguish itself from YouTube. YouTube issued the slogan "Broadcast Yourself". The company and its website experienced rapid growth.
Since 2000, YouTube consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet.https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1584230/Web-could-collapse-as-video-demand-soars.html
During this time, the company also went through some organizational changes. In October 2006, YouTube moved to a new office in San Bruno, California.https://web.archive.org/web/20210213052612/https://mashable.com/2015/02/14/youtube-history/ 
In December 2009, YouTube partnered with Vevo.https://web.archive.org/web/20170820162901/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/business/media/08vevo.html In April 2010, Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" became the most viewed video on YouTube, becoming the first video to reach 200 million views on May 9, 2010.
"Bad Romance By Lady Gaga Becomes First YouTube Video To Hit 200 Million Views". May 9, 2010. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20190101195642/https://pulse2.com/bad-romance-by-lady-gaga-becomes-first-youtube-video-to-hit-200-million-views/ Archived) 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.https://web.archive.org/web/20140226121025/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ggtnJSISuXoPHgxu6HwPJJqVTT6g?docId=CNG.f7ff59e3829714d23524d35ed1afdd63.921
In 2011, more than three billion videos were being watched each day with 48 hours of new videos uploaded every minute. YouTube faced a major lawsuit by Viacom International, the company that sued for alleged copyright infringement of Viacom's material by YouTube. However, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that YouTube was not liable, and thus YouTube won the case in 2012.https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/04/viacom-v-google-decision
In 2013. YouTube rolled out a subsequent interface change, designed to unify the experience across desktop, TV, and mobilehttps://web.archive.org/web/20230523124430/https://thenextweb.com/news/youtube-rolls-out-redesigned-one-channel-layout-to-all-users By that point, more than 100 hours were being uploaded every minute, increasing to 300 hours by November 2014.https://web.archive.org/web/20210308194957/https://www.theverge.com/2013/5/19/4345514/youtube-users-upload-100-hours-video-every-minute
Susan Wojcicki was appointed CEO of YouTube in February 2014.https://web.archive.org/web/20170916183049/http://in.reuters.com/article/us-google-youtube/google-taps-longtime-executive-wojcicki-to-head-youtube-idINBREA141Y420140205
By February 2017, one billion hours of YouTube videos were being watched every day, and 400 hours worth of videos were uploaded every minute.https://www.engadget.com/2017/02/27/youtube-one-billion-hours-watched-daily/ 
Following a 2018 complaint alleging violations of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the company was fined $170 million by the FTC for collecting personal information from minors under the age of 13.https://web.archive.org/web/20190906200850/https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190905/17343942934/ftcs-latest-fine-youtube-over-coppa-violations-shows-that-coppa-section-230-are-collision-course.shtml YouTube was also ordered to create systems to increase children's privacy.https://web.archive.org/web/20230307214341/https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/4/20848949/google-ftc-youtube-child-privacy-violations-fine-170-milliion-coppa-adshttps://web.archive.org/web/20221111115824/https://cnn.com/2019/09/04/tech/google-youtube-ftc-settlement/index.html
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when most of the world was under stay-at-home orders, usage of services like YouTube significantly increased. One data firm estimated that YouTube was accounting for 15% of all internet traffic, twice its pre-pandemic level.https://web.archive.org/web/20210512060158/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/04/podcasts/rabbit-hole-qanon-youtube-tiktok-virus.html
After testing earlier in 2021, YouTube removed public display of dislike counts on videos in November 2021, claiming the reason for the removal was, based on its internal research, that users often used the dislike feature as a form of cyberbullying and brigading.https://web.archive.org/web/20211130131058/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-59264070 
While some users praised the move as a way to discourage trolls, others felt that hiding dislikes would make it harder for viewers to recognize clickbait or unhelpful videos and that other features already existed for creators to limit bullying. YouTube co-founder,Jawed Karim referred to the update as "a stupid idea", and that the real reason behind the change was "not a good one, and not one that will be publicly disclosed." He felt that users' ability on a social platform to identify harmful content was essential, saying, "The process works, and there's a name for it: the wisdom of the crowds. The process breaks when the platform interferes with it. Then, the platform invariably declines."https://web.archive.org/web/20211117142742/https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/17/22787080/youtube-dislikes-criticism-cofounder-jawed-karim-first-video-description-zoohttps://web.archive.org/web/20211118000227/https://mashable.com/article/youtube-cofounder-protests-decision-to-remove-dislikeshttps://web.archive.org/web/20230529055917/https://uk.pcmag.com/social-media/137045/youtube-co-founder-says-removing-dislike-counts-is-a-stupid-idea
On February 16, 2023, Wojcicki announced that she would step down as CEO of YouTube, with Neal Mohan named as her successor.https://web.archive.org/web/20230216185547/https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/16/23602759/youtube-ceo-susan-wojcicki-stepping-down-neal-mohan-google
==Gallery==
===Logos===
YouTubeLogo2017.svg|(2017-present)
YouTubeLogo2015.svg|(2015-2017)
YoutubeLogo2007.jpg|The YouTube logo used from its launch until 2007; it returned in 2008 before being removed again in 2010.
===The YouTube Website===
Note: Most of the screenshots in this gallery are taken from the Internet Archive.
YouTube2005.png|2005. 
YouTube2007.png|2007. 
YouTube2011.png|2011. 
YouTube2012.png|2012.
YouTube2013.png|2013.
YouTube2014.png|2014.
YouTube2017.png|late-2017.
YouTube2020.png|2020.
===Others===
YouTube_video_player_history.png|Design history of the video player used by YouTube. Each layout generation might have gone through minor undocumented iterations, and that appearance may vary with embedding parameters.
==References==