---
title: "The internet in 1993"
description: "Mosaic puts pictures on the same page as text, and the web stops being a document store. 130 websites, 14.4 kbps at home, and what a download actually took."
url: https://atoneplace.net/internet-in/1993/
site: "At One Place"
---

# The internet in 1993

**The internet in 1993: Mosaic puts pictures on the same page as text, and the web stops being a document store.**

130 hostnames · A 14.4 kbps modem, the first that felt tolerable for graphics.

Mosaic was the browser that made the web look like something worth looking at, chiefly by displaying images inline rather than opening them in a separate window. There were about 130 websites in the world at the end of the year and a person could plausibly visit a meaningful fraction of them. This is the year the word "internet" started appearing in newspapers without an explanatory paragraph attached, and the year the Eternal September began when AOL connected its users to Usenet and the annual influx of new arrivals stopped being annual.

## The numbers

- **Websites:** 130 hostnames responding to HTTP
- **Typical connection:** 14.4 kbps — A 14.4 kbps modem, the first that felt tolerable for graphics.
- **A gigabyte of storage cost:** $4,000, in 1993 dollars

## How long things took to download

*Assuming the connection ran at its rated speed throughout, which it did not. Real dial-up throughput after protocol overhead was typically 10 to 20 per cent below the modem's rating.*

| What | At 14.4 kbps |
| --- | --- |
| A 3 MB song | 28 minutes |
| A 5 MB photo | 47 minutes |
| A 700 MB CD image | 4.6 days |
| A 4 GB film | 27 days |
| A 50 GB game | 337 days |

## What arrived in 1993

- NCSA Mosaic
- The White House website
- The first internet radio broadcast

## Against the years around it

| Year | Hostnames | Typical speed | $/GB of storage | A 4 GB film took |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1991 | 1 | 9.6 kbps | $9,000 | 40 days |
| 1993 | 130 | 14.4 kbps | $4,000 | 27 days |
| 1994 | 2,738 | 14.4 kbps | $1,500 | 27 days |

Between 1993 and 2020 the typical connection went from 14.4 kbps to 100 Mbps, a factor of 6,944, and a gigabyte of storage fell from $4,000 to $0.020 — a factor of 200,000. The 4 GB film that took 27 days takes 6 minutes.

## Common questions

### What was the internet like in 1993?

Mosaic puts pictures on the same page as text, and the web stops being a document store. A typical home connection was 14.4 kbps, there were about 130 hostnames responding on the web, and a gigabyte of storage cost $4,000.

### How long did it take to download a film in 1993?

A 4 GB film at 14.4 kbps would have taken about 27 days, assuming the connection held its rated speed the whole way, which it would not have.

### How many websites were there in 1993?

About 130 hostnames responded to HTTP. That counts hostnames rather than distinct sites, which is why the figure occasionally falls between years without the web shrinking.

## Related pages

- [The internet in 1991](https://atoneplace.net/internet-in/1991/)
- [The internet in 1994](https://atoneplace.net/internet-in/1994/)
- [Every year side by side](https://atoneplace.net/internet-in/)
- [Convert data units](https://atoneplace.net/convert/)

## Sources

- Web Server Survey — Netcraft (https://www.netcraft.com/blog/category/web-server-survey/)
- ICT Facts and Figures / World Telecommunication Indicators — International Telecommunication Union (https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/)
- Historical cost of computer memory and storage — Compiled from contemporaneous retail advertising and manufacturer price lists (/about/)