How to loop a YouTube video.

There are three different ways to repeat a YouTube video, each useful in different situations. The native YouTube option works for most casual cases. AB section repeat is what you actually want for practice and learning. Playlist loops are for queues.

1. Loop the whole video — built-in (easiest)

YouTube has had loop in the right-click menu since 2018. Most people don’t know it’s there.

1. Play any video on youtube.com (desktop only).
2. Right-click anywhere on the video itself.
3. Click Loop in the menu.
4. A checkmark appears. The video will now restart from the beginning every time it ends.

This works fine for songs and short clips. It doesn’t survive a tab close or a refresh, and after about an hour the “Video paused. Continue watching?” prompt will interrupt you anyway.

On mobile, the official YouTube app doesn’t expose a loop button. You have to long-press the video, which on most builds doesn’t open a useful menu. The practical mobile answer is either Premium (which adds a Loop toggle inside the queue) or a web player.

2. Loop only a section — AB repeat (what most people actually need)

If you’re practising a guitar riff, drilling a foreign-language phrase, copying a dance move, or studying a sports replay, you don’t want the whole video to repeat. You want one specific span — say, the 4 seconds between 1:43 and 1:47 — to loop until you say stop.

YouTube doesn’t offer this on its own player. You need a third-party tool. The category is called “AB Loop” or “section repeat.” TubeNonstop and LoopTube.xyz are the two most-used options in 2026.

The pattern is the same in every tool:

1. Open the tool and paste your YouTube URL.
2. Play the video. When you reach the start of the span you want to repeat, press [ (or click Mark A).
3. When you reach the end, press ] (or click Mark B).
4. The player will now bounce between those two timestamps forever, until you press C to clear.

Most tools also save the loop points per video — come back tomorrow, same URL, your loop is still there.

3. Loop a playlist — for long sessions

For ambient music, study mixes, or focus playlists, you usually don’t want one video on repeat — you want a queue that recycles.

On youtube.com:

1. Open the playlist.
2. Click the playlist menu in the sidebar.
3. Click the loop icon next to the playlist title (two arrows in a circle).

When the playlist ends, it starts again from the top. The same idle prompt warning applies — about an hour in, YouTube will pause you. Either pay for Premium, use a no-prompt web player like TubeNonstop, or install a desktop extension.

Quick reference

• Whole video, casual: right-click → Loop on youtube.com
• Specific section: AB loop tool (TubeNonstop, LoopTube)
• Playlist queue: playlist loop on youtube.com
• All of the above, hours at a time: a web player on a different domain, plus a wake lock