YouTube is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, share, and view videos. Three former PayPal employees created YouTube in February 2005. In November 2006, YouTube, LLC was bought by Google Inc. for $1.65 billion, and is now operated as a subsidiary of Google.

The company is based in San Bruno, California, and uses Adobe Flash Video 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 and short original videos. Most of the content on YouTube has been uploaded by individuals, although media corporations including CBS, BBC, VEVO and other organizations offer some of their material via the site, as part of the YouTube partnership program.

Social impact

Before the launch of YouTube in 2005, there were few easy methods available for ordinary computer users who wanted to post videos online. With its simple interface, YouTube made it possible for anyone with an Internet connection to post a video that a worldwide audience could watch within a few minutes. The wide range of topics covered by YouTube has turned video sharing into one of the most important parts of Internet culture.

YouTube was awarded a 2008 George Foster Peabody Award and cited for being "a 'Speakers' Corner' that both embodies and promotes democracy." Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "Providing a safe home for piano-playing cats, celeb goof-ups, and overzealous lip-synchers since 2005.", etc.

Uploading

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, and .WMV. It also supports 3GP, allowing videos to be uploaded from legacy mobile phones.

Released Free to Try Software

Sog DVD to iPhone/iPod/Apple-TV Ripper : is an all-in-one solution for converting or rippint DVD to iPod iPhone and Apple-TV video format, or extracting DVD audio to mp3 music files so that you can play it on your iPod iPhone and Apple-TV.

Sog Video Converter : built-in more than 210 video/audio codecs, it is perfect for MKV Video Converting, multi-functions as HD Video Converter, DVD Burner and Website Video Downloader. Without any third-party codec, it support Multi-track HD M2TS, MKV, AVCHD and MPEG-TS video.

Sog DVD Ripper : all-in-one software for ripping DVD on Windows . It is designed to make perfect 1:1 DVD copy to hard drive and rip your DVD movies to AVI, MOV, MP4, FLV, and support outputing other video formats..

Sog Video Converter Platinum : is an all-in-one solution for converting all most video formats file to avi DivX Xvid MPEG1/2 MPEG-4 wmv flv (flash video) , video to iPod / iPhone / AppleTV , video to PSP, video to mobile phone (3GP), or extracting audio to mp3 music files so that you can play it on PC, iPod, iPhone, Apple-TV, MP4-Player, PSP, Mobile Phone, Zune, PDA.Fast and easy to use.