# If the entire internet where to be printed out in a physical book, how many pages would it be, how much ink would it take, and how physically large would the book have to be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 21, 2022, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343 "2022-07-21T20:41:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SmartBulbInc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@SmartBulbInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartBulbInc)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/1 "2022-07-21T20:41:14Z")
Apparently, there existed a [physical Wikipedia at some point.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Print_Wikipedia) Although this physically copy was only a fraction of the true size of the entire website, it got me thinking: how large of a book would you need to make a physically copy of the entire internet? ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/2 "2022-07-21T20:47:39Z")
How do we print the videos? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/3 "2022-07-21T20:49:27Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > How do we print the videos? - One frame per page. Make flip books. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/4 "2022-07-21T20:50:18Z")
It’s gotta be phone book big, minimum. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/5 "2022-07-21T20:51:22Z")
Just the porn section alone would probably stretch to the stratosphere. And the there’s funny animal videos. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/6 "2022-07-21T20:53:32Z")
Randall Munroe did a [what-if xkcd](https://what-if.xkcd.com/59/) about how much effort it would require just to keep up with the changes to Wikipedia. Reading this might make for a good starting point. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/7 "2022-07-21T21:44:21Z")
From [here](https://www.easytechjunkie.com/how-big-is-the-internet.htm): “Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, the world’s largest index of the Internet, estimated the size at roughly 5 million terabytes of data.” I saw an estimate of 3000 characters on a page of text. If you equate one character with one byte then it’s 5 \* 10^21 / 3000 which is getting close-ish to 2 \* 10^18 pages. That’s a lot of trees. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/8 "2022-07-21T21:49:07Z")
There are somewhere near a trillion photos on the internet. > **[How Many Photos Are There? (2023) 50+ Photos Statistics](https://photutorial.com/photos-statistics/)** > > Discover everything you need to know about photo statistics - Number of photos taken daily, number of photos on Google, and much more! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/9 "2022-07-21T21:49:49Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > There are somewhere near a trillion photos on the internet. - How many of those are kittens? ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/10 "2022-07-21T22:06:46Z")
I still have _The Whole Internet_, Ed Krol, published by O’Reilly and in 1992 it took around 500 pages. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/11 "2022-07-21T22:22:25Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > There are somewhere near a trillion photos on the internet. The amount of data online is growing exponentially. > [@](#): > > Americans take more photographs every two minutes than were taken worldwide in the entire 19th century. Three hundred hours of YouTube video are uploaded every minute. On Snapchat, alone – an app founded in 2011 and banned in China – 700m photos are posted every single day. In 2014, 1tn photographs were taken, more than a quarter of all previously existing photos. > **[In 2014 we took 1tn photos: welcome to our new visual culture](https://amp.theguardian.com/books/2015/jul/10/2014-one-trillion-photos-welcome-new-visual-culture)** > > We also took an estimated 30bn selfies last year and we load 300 hours of video on to YouTube every minute. How is it affecting the way we see the world? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/12 "2022-07-21T22:53:42Z")
All of them except the tragic cliff’s-edge selfies and dinner. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/13 "2022-07-21T23:07:28Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > From [here](https://www.easytechjunkie.com/how-big-is-the-internet.htm): > > “Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, the world’s largest index of the Internet, estimated the size at roughly 5 million terabytes of data.” > > I saw an estimate of 3000 characters on a page of text. If you equate one character with one byte then it’s 5 \* 10^21 / 3000 which is getting close-ish to 2 \* 10^18 pages. > > That’s a lot of trees. And then some pirate would upload The Internet to the internet and instantly double its size. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/14 "2022-07-21T23:17:57Z")
> [@GreysonCarlisle](#): > > And then some pirate would upload The Internet to the internet and instantly double its size. And then somebody on the Dope would start a thread titled “What if the Internet was written by somebody else”, and you can just imagine how long that will be. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/15 "2022-07-21T23:20:59Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > How many of those are kittens? For every cat picture on the internet there are at least a dozen more pictures of… you know. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/16 "2022-07-21T23:21:49Z")
Yeah. “Cats”. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/17 "2022-07-21T23:25:02Z")
> [@GreysonCarlisle](#): > > And then some pirate would upload The Internet to the internet and instantly double its size. Don’t be silly. It would be zipped, otherwise no torrent client could handle it. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/18 "2022-07-21T23:36:09Z")
Since @ftg has come up with an approximately correct, factual answer (correct to within factors of order pi as one of my professors was wont to remark), I’ll just post this, which was the first thing that came to mind when I saw this thread. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rt-E_G8Lhc) ---
**Author:** ![SmartBulbInc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@SmartBulbInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartBulbInc)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/19 "2022-07-22T00:49:58Z")
For this scenario, let’s assume that we are only taking into account words. No videos, direct code, audio, or photos. Only words would be counted in his hypothetical book. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343/20 "2022-07-22T01:00:29Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > I still have _The Whole Internet_, Ed Krol Lest anyone be misled, the book is actually titled _[Whole Internet User’s Guide and Catalog](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Internet_User%27s_Guide_and_Catalog)_ and was an early book **about** the Internet, not a printed copy of the entire thing. 🙂 It was inspired by the _[Whole Earth Catalog](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Earth_Catalog)_, and while this may disappoint some people, it also did not contain the entire planet Earth either. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-entire-internet-where-to-be-printed-out-in-a-physical-book-how-many-pages-would-it-be-how-much-ink-would-it-take-and-how-physically-large-would-the-book-have-to-be/968343.md?page=2)