You can probably assume that the creator of many YouTube videos intends to watch their videos only once or twice by each viewer, although there are of course many videos that are definitely worth watching again. and more, including favorite music videos, kids' shows (parents will understand what I'm saying), or ambient background videos like fireplaces or aquariums that serve as visual and audio white noise.
That said, sometimes there is a reason to replay a video on loop because you think the video is funny on loop or for some other reason. For example, maybe you're using YouTube videos to prepare for a technical certification exam, and you really need more than a review of certain concepts to prepare for.
Until recently, however, there was no native way to set a YouTube video to "repeat" on an infinite loop, playing the video over and over indefinitely.
Developers and the YouTube community have approached this problem in many ways, with creators looping videos on the editing side and uploading massive 12-hour compilations, and plug-in developers offering numerous solutions based on a browser to automatically reload and replay a video at the end.
The good news is that with a YouTube update you will no longer need these compilations or plugins to loop YouTube videos.
How to Loop (Repeat) a YouTube Video on PC
Here's how to put YouTube videos on an infinite loop using YouTube itself rather than an external solution.
- First, using a modern web browser such as the latest versions of Chrome, Safari, or Firefox, find and start playing the YouTube video you want to loop or repeat.
- Once the video you want to loop is playing, right-click on the video itself to reveal the familiar options menu as seen here on TechJunkie's YouTube channel.
- Now click on Loop. Go back to your video and once it is finished, the video will automatically start again from the beginning.
It should be noted that Google (the owner of YouTube) has implemented its own server-side looping technology, and the video will start playing again without even needing to reload the browser page. The video restarts without needing to refresh or click anything.
The only downside to this new YouTube loop feature is that if the video had a pre-roll YouTube ad, you'll likely see or hear it again once the video restarts (in brief tests, we noticed that a pre-roll ad was played again after completing 4 of the 5 forced loops).
Of course, this also applies to any announcements or intros that the video creator himself has inserted at the start of the video.
So this feature isn't perfect, but at least users can finally access this relatively basic feature without relying on third-party plugins. So now you can endlessly loop YouTube videos anytime you want!
How to Loop (Repeat) YouTube Video on Android Device
For those of you who want to loop YouTube videos on Android device, let's get started.
- Open the YouTube app and play the video you want to loop.
- Now click on the Menu, the three dots icon.
- Then click Loop.
If you want to loop a playlist, just start playing the first video in the list and tap the Loop checkbox below the video.
How to Loop (Repeat) a YouTube Video on an iPhone
If you have an iPhone and want to loop videos or playlists, follow the steps above. The YouTube app has been well designed to be similar on all devices.
Do looping YouTube videos increase views?
YouTube doesn't count what it considers "low-quality views," so you're unlikely to get a boost in engagement metrics by looping a video. Google, and by extension YouTube (owned by Google), are becoming increasingly sophisticated at detecting actual engagement over things like a video repeating multiple times for the same viewer within the same session.
So it's not worth trying to increase views by looping a video. It's best to loop videos if you think it would be useful or fun in some other way.
YouTube videos and loop
Looping YouTube videos and playlists is as easy as clicking a few buttons and menu options.
If you enjoyed this article, you might want to check out these other TechJunkie articles:
Have you used YouTube's video looping feature? If so, why did you want to loop a video? Did the feature work well for you? Please tell us your experiences in the comments below!
