What was the first video uploaded to YouTube called?

The first video uploaded to YouTube was called “Me at the zoo.”

Jawed Karim uploaded the 19-second clip on 23 April 2005. It shows him standing in front of elephants at the San Diego Zoo and briefly commenting on their trunks. Karim was one of YouTube’s three co-founders, alongside Steve Chen and Chad Hurley.

The video is historically important because it is the earliest surviving upload on YouTube, which became one of the world’s largest video-sharing platforms. Its deliberately ordinary subject contrasts with the global cultural importance the site later acquired.

“Me at the zoo” is sometimes described as the first YouTube video, but it was not a promotional trailer or a professionally produced program. It was a short personal clip uploaded during the service’s early testing period.

YouTube was founded in 2005 and acquired by Google in 2006. The original video remains available on the platform.