Key Difference: YouTube is a video-sharing website owned by Google. Whereas, Facebook is a social network website. Youtube is a website that is all about videos and Facebook is a website that is designed for connecting people.

YouTube was founded in February 2005 by PayPal employees. Later, in November 2006, Google acquired it for US$1.65 billion. It is a video-sharing website that uses Adobe Flash Video and HTML5 technology. YouTube has a wide variety of videos generated by users. It includes TV clips, movie clips and music videos. Also, it contains amateur videos like educational videos and video blogs. Media corporations like CBS, the BBC, Vevo and Hulu upload some of their material via YouTube. Unregistered users can watch videos but to upload a video one must be registered on YouTube. Some videos that contain potentially offensive content are available only to registered users who are at least 18 years old.

YouTube uses technology of Adobe Flash Player to display videos to the users. It also used HTML5 and Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP on experimental basis. However, HTML5 is still available for browsers that support HTML5. Currently they are using Adobe Dynamic Streaming for Flash. Users can upload videos on YouTube up to 15 minutes of duration each. Users who have a good track record with compliance to the site’s guidelines can upload videos up to 12 hours in length; however, verification of the account is required. File size is limited to 2GB for uploads from the YouTube webpage, or 20GB when up-to-date browsers are used. YouTube accepts almost all video formats for uploading. It includes .AVI, .MKV, .MOV, .MP4, DivX, .FLV, .ogg, .ogv, 3GP, MPEG-4, MPEG, VOB, and .WMV.

Initially, YouTube offered videos at only one quality level i.e. at a resolution of 320x240 pixels. Now, there are three quality levels, Standard Quality (SQ with 480x360 pixels), High Quality (HQ with 720p support) and High Definition (HD with 1080p support). In May 2011, an HTML5 version of the YouTube player began supporting side-by-side 3D footage that is compatible with Nvidia 3D Vision. YouTube allows a registered user to comment for the video i.e. to write something for the video. YouTube has become very popular nowadays, as people need entertainment with the increasing level of standard of living.

Facebook is the largest social networking website. It is a website which enables a user to connect with other users online. Facebook was founded in February 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow Harvard University Students. It is a website that enables a user to share photos, videos, posts, etc. It also has features like exchanging messages, add personal profile, add other users as ‘Friends’, automatic notification service when other users update their profile, etc.

Moreover, users can join communities of common interest known as ‘Groups’. These Groups can be managed and organized by schools or colleges, workplace, traditional organizations, etc. Facebook also allows user to categorize their Friends into lists like, ‘Close Friends’, ‘Family’ or ‘People from Work’. Facebook has an Online Chat feature that allows online users to chat. Facebook further added Voice Calls and Video Calling features.

Facebook has a lot of branches like ads, online games, video calls, recent updates of friends, etc. It only requires an email id and an internet connection. A user can search his/her friends on Facebook and add them onto their ‘Friends List’. Facebook is a widely used website by over 1 billion active users.

Facebook has agreement with YouTube by which users can upload or embed videos on Facebook

Image Courtesy: mactrast.com