Iconic Windows 95 startup chime added to National Recording Registry

The Library of Congress announced this year’s 25 selections to add into its National Recording Registry. Although often focused on music, spoken word, and field recordings, the 2025 inductees include one of the most iconic sounds in digital history: the Windows 95 “Reboot Chime.”

In August 1995, personal desktop computers entered an entirely new era thanks to the release of Microsoft’s Windows 95 operating system. Instead of the “point-and-click” interfaces we know today, PCs frequently relied on typing a specific set of commands into an entry log. This often resulted in a steep learning curve for users while limiting its wider adoption in homes. Windows 95 represented a dramatically different way to interact with a PC, by encompassing the majority of programs and tasks inside a graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI was, in turn, accessible through icons, search bars, and the mouse cursor.

During its development, Microsoft engineers hoped to also include a suite of brief audio clips attached to various aspects of the OS. One of those sounds was intended to play every time a user started up or rebooted Windows 95. In 1994, Microsoft designers Mark Malamud and Erik Gavriluk reached out to composer Brian Eno for help with the project. Already a prolific musician, Eno was also one of ambient music’s earliest pioneers. His 1978 album, Ambient 1: Music for Airports, even helped coin the genre’s name.

According to the Library of Congress, Microsoft hoped for a quick chime that “conveyed the sense of welcome, hopefulness, and progress” they wished to convey with Windows 95.

“The thing from the agency said, ‘We want a piece of music that is inspiring, universal, blah-blah, da-da-da, optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, emotional,’ this whole list of adjectives,” Eno said during an interview in 1996. “And then at the bottom it said, ‘And it must be 3.25 seconds long.’”

Despite Microsoft’s limitations, Eno set to work on crafting an appropriate sound.“I thought this was so funny and an amazing thought to actually try to make a little piece of music. It’s like making a tiny little jewel,” said Eno.

The composer ultimately submitted 84 brief compositions to the company. In the end, however, Microsoft chose a selection double the length limit mentioned in the proposal. Soon, millions of Windows 95 users logged on everyday to Eno’s startup jingle.

The Library defines its National Recording Registry collection as “audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage.”

This year’s picks also include another piece of digital history: the original soundcraft to the hit video game, Minecraft. While the total number of entries now stands at 675, it represents only a small slice of the Library’s collection of nearly 5 million recorded sounds. The public is annually encouraged to submit their own suggestions for inclusion—nominations for next year can be sent to the Library of Congress until October 1, 2025.
Ironically, while Windows 95’s welcome chime accompanied one of the most successful computers of all time, Eno never owned one.

“I wrote it on a Mac,” he confessed to the BBC in 2011. “I’ve never used a PC in my life; I don’t like them.”