Since YouTube‘s launch in 2005, viewers have streamed over a billion hours of video daily on the platform. And these days, many of those hours consist of looping videos that play on repeat.
YouTube‘s loop feature lets you turn any video into an endless experience. No more manually restarting a clip or rewinding a playlist!
In this in-depth guide, you‘ll learn how and why to loop YouTube videos to upgrade your viewing experience.
A Brief History of Video Looping
Before we dive in, let‘s look back at how we got here.
YouTube added basic video looping way back in 2008 as a frequently requested feature. Users wanted to:
- Play songs on repeat without interruptions
- Listen to ambient sounds like rain to focus or relax
- Put kids‘ videos on endless loops to entertain babies and toddlers
Fast forward 15 years, and looping has exploded in popularity. Today, YouTube estimates over 115 million hours of looping content are streamed daily.
Popular channels like Lofi Girl and SleepTube cater to looping with endless lofi hip hop mixes and ASMR videos designed for sleeping, studying, and chilling out.
Now let‘s explore how you can use this beloved feature.
Looping Single Videos on Desktop
Looping a single video on desktop only takes seconds:
- Find your video – Search for whatever you want to loop on YouTube.com. Music, ambient noise, a Bob Ross tutorial – anything goes!
- Right click the video – Anywhere on the actual video playback screen, not just the webpage. This brings up a menu.
Tip: If you don‘t see the menu, try disabling any ad blockers temporarily.
- Select Loop – In the right click menu, click the option called Loop. A checkmark will appear next to it.
That‘s it, your video will now repeat nonstop! The Loop setting stays on until you manually turn it off by right clicking and unchecking it.
Tip: This works on any desktop browser like Chrome, Firefox, Edge, etc.
Now let‘s look at looping on mobile devices.
Looping Single Videos on Mobile
You can also easily loop videos in the YouTube app for iOS and Android.
- Find your video – Open the YouTube app and search or browse for the video you want to loop.
- Tap the video – Tap directly on the video playback screen once it starts. This brings up the menu.
- Open Settings – Tap the gear icon in the top right corner to open video settings.
- Enable Loop – Slide the switch next to Loop video to turn it on. You‘ll get a confirmation that looping is now active.
The video will seamlessly play over and over until you open settings again and disable looping.
Looping YouTube Playlists
Beyond single videos, you can also loop full YouTube playlists. This creates a perfect background audio experience.
On Desktop
- Open Playlists – Click your profile icon > Playlists or go to Library > Playlists in the sidebar menu.
- Start your playlist – Hover over the playlist you want and click Play all.
- Turn on Loop – In the playlist sidebar that appears, click the Loop icon. It will turn black when activated.
Your full playlist will repeat endlessly. To loop just the current video, click Loop again until you see "1 Loop".
On Mobile
- Open Playlists – Go to Library > Playlists.
- Start your playlist – Tap the playlist you want, then Play all.
- Activate Loop – Once the first video plays, tap the Loop icon in the top left corner.
The playlist will now play on repeat. Tap Loop again to toggle between full and single video looping.
Tips for Seamless Looping
Looping YouTube videos takes just seconds, but optimizing the experience takes a bit more finesse.
Keep these tips in mind:
- Preview first – Queue up playlists and test videos before looping to ensure good content flow.
- Set a moderate volume – Avoid ear strain by keeping volume reasonably low for long listening.
- Disable autoplay – Turn off autoplay so unrelated videos don‘t interrupt your loop.
- Use bookmarks – Add bookmarks to loop short segments of long ambient videos.
- Make focused playlists – Tailor playlists to purposes like focus, sleep, exercise motivation.
- Enable Dark Mode – Switch on Dark Mode if watching a visual loop for a long period.
- Adjust start/end times – Trim down long videos and set start/end times to perfection.
With the right setup, you can loop YouTube videos seamlessly for hours on end. Now get ready to relax, focus, entertain and discover the bliss of uninterrupted listening and watching!