Preserving the Internet's Past: Inside the Wayback Machine's Trillionth Page

In 2025, the Internet Archive, a non-profit library in San Francisco, continues its mission of preserving the web's history. Housed in a former Christian Scientist church, the archive's Wayback Machine tool has just reached a major milestone, logging its trillionth web page.

For nearly 30 years, the Internet Archive has been saving the web one page at a time, creating a living history of the internet. The Wayback Machine, used by millions, has proven critical for academics and journalists searching for historical information on corporations, people, and governments.

However, the task of archiving the web is becoming more challenging. The White House recently ordered vast amounts of government webpages to be taken down, while artificial intelligence is blurring the line between real and artificially generated content. Additionally, more of the internet is now hidden behind paywalls or tucked in conversations with AI chatbots. The Internet Archive is adapting to these changes, capturing AI-generated content and experimenting with ways to preserve how people get their news from chatbots.

Led by founder Brewster Kahle, the Internet Archive's team of librarians and software engineers is dedicated to providing a comprehensive record of the web's history, ensuring that people can learn from the past and build a better future.