What Was the First YouTube Video? The Story of “Me at the zoo”
Updated November 3, 2026. The first video uploaded to YouTube was “Me at the zoo”. It was posted on April 23, 2005, by YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim and filmed at the San Diego Zoo. The clip is simple: Karim stands near elephants and talks about their trunks. YouTube’s own retrospective confirms the date, location and first-upload status.
Why did such a simple video matter?
It did not begin as a polished brand campaign, a film trailer or a carefully optimized tutorial. Its significance comes from being the first upload to a service built around letting ordinary people share video. YouTube’s retrospective describes the clip as an early demonstration that anyone could turn on a camera and broadcast. The historical point is the opening of that publishing model, not a claim that short, unedited videos always perform well today.
What can you see in the original?
Watch the original video on YouTube rather than relying on a screenshot or a recreation. The scene is a person speaking to a camera at the zoo, with elephants behind him. The video itself is a better primary source for those visual details than an illustration in this article. The new cover image here is a modern editorial interpretation, not an authentic frame from the 2005 recording.
A small piece of internet history
The clip became a reference point for the early web because it shows how low the technical barrier to publishing could be. YouTube grew far beyond that first upload, but current audience size and viewing statistics change over time and are not needed to understand this moment. In 2026, YouTube reported that the Victoria and Albert Museum was preserving a reconstruction of an early YouTube watch page featuring the first video—a reminder that the interface around user-created video has become part of internet history too.
Frequently asked questions
When was the first YouTube video uploaded?
April 23, 2005, according to YouTube’s own historical account.
Who uploaded “Me at the zoo”?
Jawed Karim, a YouTube co-founder.
Is this an instruction guide for making a first video?
No. This page is a historical note about the platform’s first upload. If you are preparing your own first video, see the separate practical first-video guide.
