---
title: "The internet in 2005"
description: "YouTube launches, and video stops needing a plugin and a prayer. 64,780,617 websites, 3 Mbps at home, and what a download actually took."
url: https://atoneplace.net/internet-in/2005/
site: "At One Place"
---

# The internet in 2005

**The internet in 2005: YouTube launches, and video stops needing a plugin and a prayer.**

64,780,617 hostnames · Broadband at 2 to 5 Mbps.

Before YouTube, putting video on the web meant choosing between RealPlayer, QuickTime and Windows Media, each of which required the viewer to have installed the right plugin and each of which frequently failed. YouTube used Flash, which nearly everyone already had, and that single decision is most of why it won. Google Maps introduced the drag-to-pan slippy map, which was startling at the time — every online map before it redrew the whole page when you clicked an arrow.

## The numbers

- **Websites:** 64,780,617 hostnames responding to HTTP
- **Typical connection:** 3 Mbps — Broadband at 2 to 5 Mbps.
- **A gigabyte of storage cost:** $0.60, in 2005 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 3 Mbps |
| --- | --- |
| A 3 MB song | 8 seconds |
| A 5 MB photo | 14 seconds |
| A 700 MB CD image | 32 minutes |
| A 4 GB film | 3 hours 6 minutes |
| A 50 GB game | 1.6 days |

## What arrived in 2005

- YouTube, in February
- Reddit, in June
- Google Maps
- Google Earth

## Against the years around it

| Year | Hostnames | Typical speed | $/GB of storage | A 4 GB film took |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2004 | 51,611,646 | 2 Mbps | $1 | 4 hours 40 minutes |
| 2005 | 64,780,617 | 3 Mbps | $0.60 | 3 hours 6 minutes |
| 2006 | 85,507,314 | 4 Mbps | $0.40 | 2 hours 20 minutes |

Between 2005 and 2020 the typical connection went from 3 Mbps to 100 Mbps, a factor of 33, and a gigabyte of storage fell from $0.60 to $0.020 — a factor of 30. The 4 GB film that took 3 hours 6 minutes takes 6 minutes.

## Common questions

### What was the internet like in 2005?

YouTube launches, and video stops needing a plugin and a prayer. A typical home connection was 3 Mbps, there were about 64,780,617 hostnames responding on the web, and a gigabyte of storage cost $0.60.

### How long did it take to download a film in 2005?

A 4 GB film at 3 Mbps would have taken about 3 hours 6 minutes, assuming the connection held its rated speed the whole way, which it would not have.

### How many websites were there in 2005?

About 64,780,617 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 2004](https://atoneplace.net/internet-in/2004/)
- [The internet in 2006](https://atoneplace.net/internet-in/2006/)
- [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/)