# Chris Zacharias

> Chris Zacharias is the founder and CEO of Imgix, a San Francisco visual-media platform, and a former YouTube web developer who built the HTML5 player and Feather, a sub-100KB version of the watch page. His career connects a stubborn performance experiment at YouTube to a long-running infrastructure company now applying deterministic image processing, data, and generative AI to visual workflows.

- **Role:** Founder and CEO at Imgix
- **Organizations:** Imgix, YouTube, Google, Xerox, Y Combinator, Rochester Institute of Technology
- **Education:** BS in Information Technology and New Media, Rochester Institute of Technology, Summer 2011 batch, Y Combinator
- **Known for:** Built YouTube's HTML5 video player., Conceived, hand-optimized, and launched YouTube Feather at 98KB and 14 requests., Founded Imgix and led it from Y Combinator's Summer 2011 batch into a long-running visual-media infrastructure company.

## Career timeline

- **2004** — Graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology in new media and information technology.
- **2004-2007** — Worked in software, including a role at Xerox, before moving to the Bay Area.
- **2007** — Joined YouTube as its second full-time web developer.
- **2009-2010** — Built YouTube's HTML5 video player and conceived, built, and launched the lightweight Feather watch page.
- **2010** — Left Google and YouTube without another job lined up.
- **2011** — Entered Y Combinator's Summer 2011 batch with the project that became Imgix.
- **2012** — Jeremy Larkin joined Zacharias in San Francisco as Imgix co-founder.
- **2013** — Described Imgix's goal as building a graphics card for the internet.
- **2025** — Spoke and wrote about self-optimizing images, human-led AI workflows, and adaptive visual media.
- **2026** — Published a framework for moving generative imaging from free-text prompts toward reusable parameters.

## Achievements

- Built YouTube's HTML5 video player.
- Conceived, hand-optimized, and launched YouTube Feather at 98KB and 14 requests.
- Founded Imgix and led it from Y Combinator's Summer 2011 batch into a long-running visual-media infrastructure company.
- Helped establish real-time, URL-driven image transformation as a developer service.
- Developed and publicly articulated practical frameworks for responsive images, self-optimizing visuals, and controllable generative-imaging workflows.

## Latest updates

- **2026-01** — Published a Forbes Technology Council article arguing that scalable generative imaging will move from brittle free-text prompts to structured, reusable parameters.
- **2025-12** — Published a Forbes Technology Council article advocating better workflows, deterministic tools, and human oversight rather than relying only on larger AI models.
- **2025-05** — Published Imgix's vision for self-optimizing images informed by context, audience, and performance signals.
- **2025-04** — Appeared at the AI User Conference in San Francisco for a session on AI-powered visual-content transformation.

## Links

- Website: https://www.chriszacharias.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/czacharias
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/zacman85
- GitHub: https://github.com/zacman85
- Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/chriszacharias.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zacman85
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/czacharias

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/chris-zacharias
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-18