Whether you are listening to a four-hour ambient rain soundtrack for focus, studying a complex five-second martial arts maneuver, or playing background music at a party, having a YouTube video stop abruptly at the end can ruin the experience. Instead of manually clicking the replay button every time the video finishes, you can configure the YouTube player to loop the video endlessly.
How to Loop a Video on Desktop
Looping a video on the desktop browser version of YouTube requires only two clicks, utilizing a hidden context menu built directly into the video player.
- Open YouTube in your web browser and navigate to the video you want to watch.
- Move your mouse pointer anywhere over the actively playing video screen.
- Right-click the video to reveal a small, dark context menu.
- Click on the Loop option (which features an icon of two arrows chasing each other in a circle).
You will notice a small white checkmark briefly appear next to the word “Loop”. Now, when the video reaches its final second, it will instantly jump back to the very beginning and continue playing indefinitely. To turn the feature off, simply right-click the video again and click “Loop” to uncheck it.
How to Loop a Video on the Mobile App
The process is slightly different on the official YouTube app for iOS and Android devices, as you cannot right-click a touchscreen.
- Open the YouTube app and begin playing your chosen video.
- Tap the video screen once to reveal the playback controls.
- Tap the Settings icon (the small gear) located in the top-right corner of the video window.
- A menu will slide up from the bottom of the screen. Tap on Additional settings (if visible, otherwise look directly for the loop option).
- Tap Loop video.
A brief notification will pop up confirming that the video loop has been turned on. The video will now repeat continuously until you navigate away from the page or manually disable the setting.
How to Loop an Entire Playlist
If you are listening to a curated playlist of songs rather than a single video, right-clicking the video will only repeat that specific song. To loop the entire playlist so it starts over once the final song finishes:
- Open the playlist and let a video begin playing.
- Look at the playlist interface (located on the right side of the screen on a desktop, or directly below the video on mobile).
- Locate the Loop icon (two arrows forming a rectangle) near the top of the playlist box.
- Click or tap the icon once. It will turn bold to indicate it is active.
If you click the icon a second time, a small number “1” will appear inside the arrows. This tells YouTube to completely ignore the rest of the playlist and loop only the currently playing video.