What does YouTube do to your video after you upload it?

Have you ever wondered how computer voices are made? Or how the touch screen on your phone works? Or what’s going on behind the scenes while you watch a YouTube video? (Hint: the answer is ⬆️  in video form.) Even though I work for Google, I have lots of questions about how the technology that Google makes actually works. So last year, along with my friend Lorraine, I started talking with engineers, designers, and other folks at Google about what they work on and making YouTube videos about what we found out.

After making these kinds of videos for about a year...it finally occurred to us to ask, “How does YouTube itself actually work?” So we asked some engineers at YouTube this question, and found out A LOT. Enough to make two videos. Part 1 is about what YouTube does to videos after they’re uploaded. And Part 2 is all about what’s happening when you watch a video:

For more videos (including ones answering the first two questions above) check out our YouTube channel, Nat & Lo. And now you’ll know all about the seemingly-simple-but-totally-complex process that’s happening as you watch them!