It’s official, the Library of Congress announced today that the iconic Windows 95 startup sound, also known as the ‘Microsoft Sound’, has been inducted into the National Recording Registry. More specifically, this six-second chime, which greeted users every time they booted up Windows 95, was included among 25 culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant recordings for the 2025 class, bringing the registry’s total to 675 titles.
The sound, also referred to as the “Reboot Chime,” was crafted by Brian Eno under a brief from Microsoft that requested something inspiring, optimistic, futuristic, and sentimental—all within a tight 3.25-second window (though Eno stretched it slightly). He created 81 different versions of the startup sound before landing on the final one. He described the process as working under tight constraints—Microsoft gave him a list of over 150 adjectives like “optimistic,” “futuristic,” and “not annoying”—which he found both challenging and inspiring.
Believe it or not, Eno composed the Windows 95 sound on an Apple Macintosh computer. At the time, he didn’t even use PCs himself, which makes it amusing that this quintessential Microsoft sound came from a rival platform. Eno has said the sound’s floaty, ethereal quality was partly inspired by the feeling of getting a haircut—those light, drifting moments as snippets fall away. He wanted it to feel like a gentle transition into the digital world.
These are the sounds of America – our wide-ranging history and culture. The National Recording Registry is our evolving nation’s playlist. The Library of Congress is proud and honored to select these audio treasures worthy of preservation, including iconic music across a variety of genres, field recordings, sports history and even the sounds of our daily lives with technology,” said Carla Hayden, Librarian of the Library of Congress.
