First identify what is actually playing in OBS: a local file in Media Source, a local-file playlist in VLC Video Source, or a YouTube playlist inside a Browser Source. Each has different repeat and restart controls, so a loop setting in one source cannot fix playback in another.
If a playlist starts over when you expected it to continue, check the source type and what happens when it ends, becomes hidden, or becomes active again. Then change only the settings for that source and test the scene before relying on it for a long broadcast.
Identify the source before changing settings
In OBS, select the item in the Sources list and open its properties. The source type is shown in the interface and usually points to the right troubleshooting path. Do not assume that a source is a Media Source just because it displays a video, or that a YouTube playlist behaves like a list of local files.
A Media Source plays a media file selected on your computer. It is the right place to check when one local video is meant to repeat. A VLC Video Source can play a playlist of local files, in an order you choose. It requires VLC to be installed. A Browser Source displays web content; if its URL loads a YouTube embed, the playlist and repeat behaviour are controlled by the YouTube player parameters in that embed.
These distinctions matter because “restart” can describe several different events. A single file may reach its end and begin again because Loop is enabled. A source may start from the beginning because it becomes active again in a scene. A local playlist may finish its final item without returning to the first. An embedded YouTube playlist may be missing the parameter that tells the player to repeat the list.
Make a note of what you see before editing anything: the source type, whether the content is a single file or a playlist, and whether the restart happens at the end of playback or after switching scenes. The OBS sources guide describes sources as the building blocks that add media and other content to a scene. That is a useful distinction to keep in mind: scenes arrange sources, but the controls that govern playback belong to the source or player that is providing the media.
Media Source: separate file looping from activation
If the source is a Media Source, start with its properties. Confirm that the file field points to the intended local file. If it is a single file that should begin again after it finishes, check Loop. OBS describes the control in its Media Sources documentation as specifying whether the file plays again once playback has completed.
Loop does not mean “continue through a YouTube playlist”. It repeats the file that the Media Source is configured to play. If you have one bhajan recording in that source, it can repeat that recording; it does not move through a collection of YouTube videos or local files.
Look separately at Restart playback when source becomes active. This setting concerns what happens when the source becomes active, rather than what happens when a file reaches its end. If it is enabled, hiding and then showing the source can send playback back to the beginning. That may be what you want for a short clip used in a scene transition, but it is usually surprising when a long programme is expected to carry on through scene changes.
For a single file that should keep its place while the source is hidden, consider the source’s visibility behaviour options as well as the restart-on-activation setting. The available controls can depend on the source and OBS version. Read the labels in your installed version, and test what hiding the source actually does before depending on it. If the source is meant to start from the beginning every time it appears, retain the restart behaviour; if it should resume or remain running, configure and test for that intention.
Do not change Loop to solve a restart that follows a scene switch without first checking activation. Conversely, turning off restart-on-activation will not make a file repeat at its end. They describe different moments in playback, and changing the wrong one can hide the original problem while creating a different one.
VLC Video Source: configure the local playlist
When you have several local files that should play one after another, use a VLC Video Source rather than trying to make a single Media Source behave like a playlist. Add the files to its playlist in the intended order, then check the playlist loop control if it should return to the first item after the last one finishes. This is a local-file playlist, not a YouTube playlist.
VLC also has a Visibility Behaviour control. Choose the behaviour that matches what the source should do when a scene hides it: stop and restart when visible, pause and resume, or continue playing while hidden. The names and available choices are shown in the source properties. If playback begins at the first item whenever you return to a scene, the visibility behaviour is one of the first things to inspect.
VLC must be installed for the VLC Video Source to work. OBS notes that a 64-bit OBS installation requires 64-bit VLC. If OBS cannot load the source or its media, check that the VLC installation is present and matches OBS’s architecture before changing playlist settings. Changing loop options will not resolve a missing or incompatible VLC installation.
For example, a local playlist of recorded services might contain an opening, a sermon and a closing segment. If the source is set to stop and restart when hidden, leaving its scene and returning may play the opening again. If it is set to pause and resume, it should continue from its paused position when visible again. Decide whether a scene change should interrupt the programme, then test that behaviour. For more on preparing a local rotation, see this guide to preparing a playlist for continuous YouTube streaming in India.
Browser Source: check the YouTube playlist embed
A Browser Source can load a YouTube embedded player. If that is how your playlist enters OBS, do not look for the local-file Loop setting to control it. The YouTube player has its own parameters, and the embed URL needs to identify the playlist as well as request the behaviour you want.
For a playlist embed, YouTube’s player parameters include listType=playlist and list=PLAYLIST_ID. Replace PLAYLIST_ID with the identifier for the intended playlist. You can also set autoplay=1 to request automatic playback when the player loads. For repeating the playlist after its final video, use loop=1. Google’s YouTube embedded-player and player-parameters documentation explains these controls and distinguishes a playlist loop from looping one video.
Check that the embed URL identifies the playlist rather than only naming one video. A player loaded for an individual video is not automatically the same thing as a playlist player. If it plays one item and stops, inspect the URL and its parameters before changing OBS’s local media settings. Also check that the playlist itself is available to the account or viewer context being used; an unavailable or restricted video can interrupt the sequence for reasons unrelated to the loop parameter.
Autoplay and looping answer separate questions. Autoplay asks the player to start when it loads. Loop asks it to repeat after the relevant playback sequence completes. If you need an embedded playlist to start automatically and then repeat, check both behaviours, and test the actual embed. Do not infer that the playlist has been set up correctly merely because the first video starts.
An embed can also reload when a Browser Source is recreated or its page is refreshed. That is distinct from the playlist reaching its end. If it restarts after a scene switch, check whether the Browser Source is being unloaded or refreshed by the way the scene is managed, then test the embed in that same scene sequence. OBS’s Media Source Loop setting will not control this reload behaviour.
Change only the controls that match
Before changing settings, use the source type and intended content to narrow the choice. This avoids turning on a control that does not apply or changing more than one variable at once.
| What you are playing | Where the content comes from | Controls to check | What the repeat applies to |
|---|---|---|---|
| One video | Local file in Media Source | Loop; restart when source becomes active | The configured file, after it ends or when activated, depending on the control |
| Several videos | Local files in VLC Video Source | Playlist order; Loop Playlist; Visibility Behaviour | The local playlist, and its behaviour when hidden |
| YouTube playlist | YouTube embed in Browser Source | listType, list, autoplay and loop parameters |
The embedded YouTube playlist or video, according to its configuration |
Use the table as a starting point, not as a substitute for testing. If a one-file Media Source repeats the same clip when it should advance through different recordings, it is not configured as a playlist. If a VLC playlist contains local recordings, adding a YouTube playlist parameter to a Browser Source does not alter it. If a Browser Source shows a YouTube playlist, changing Loop on an unrelated Media Source has no effect.
Change one relevant control at a time and note the result. For example, if a local file starts over after switching scenes, change the activation or visibility behaviour first, then test. If a local playlist stops after its last file, check its playlist loop option. If a YouTube embed stops after the last item, check the embed parameters. Keeping the source type, symptom and control together makes it easier to undo a change that produces an unwanted result.
If your real goal is an unattended prerecorded YouTube broadcast rather than repairing a local OBS scene, the workflow question is broader than this source setting. The guide to scheduling a continuous prerecorded stream on YouTube covers that separate planning problem. It does not change how OBS handles a Media Source, VLC playlist or embedded player.
Test restart behaviour in the scene
Test playback in the scene where it will be used, not only in the source-properties window. Start the content, watch long enough to establish its current position, then switch to another scene and return. Observe whether it continued while hidden, paused and resumed, stopped, or restarted from the beginning. The result tells you whether the activation or visibility behaviour matches your intention.
Also test what happens at the end of the file or playlist. For a short local file, let it complete and see whether the same file repeats. For a VLC playlist, confirm that the next local item plays, then check whether the first item follows the last when playlist looping is enabled. For a YouTube embed, check the sequence and its return to the start in the player. These are separate tests; passing one does not prove that another source type is configured correctly.
Keep OBS’s preview and the actual YouTube output distinct in your diagnosis. A source can appear to play in OBS while the stream output has a separate issue, and a browser embed can have playback restrictions or availability problems that a local file does not. If the source behaves correctly in OBS but the broadcast does not, test the output path separately rather than changing the source’s loop controls at random.
For a channel that runs for hours, a successful brief test is not proof that every restart or scene transition will behave as expected. Check the exact sequence you intend to use, including any planned switch between scenes, and confirm that the source does what you want each time. If you are setting up a continuous service or ambience stream, the advice on looping shop-promotion videos on YouTube Live is relevant to the broader goal of repeating content, while the controls here remain specific to the OBS source type.
When the settings look right but it still restarts
Return to the observation rather than adding more loop options. Write down the event immediately before the restart: did the last item finish, did you switch scenes, did the source become visible, did the browser page refresh, or did OBS itself restart? Each event points to a different part of the configuration.
Confirm that the source you edited is the same source visible in the active scene. Similar names can make it easy to change a hidden duplicate while another source is playing. Select the source in the scene and open its properties; verify the local file path, playlist contents or embed URL as appropriate. If multiple scenes reuse sources, check how that source is being shown in each scene and whether switching scenes changes its visibility.
For a Browser Source, inspect the full embed URL and verify the playlist identifier and relevant parameters. For VLC, verify the ordered list and the hide/show behaviour. For Media Source, confirm both the file and the separate end-of-file and activation controls. If you cannot tell which source supplies the visible video, temporarily hide candidates one at a time during a safe test, then restore the intended scene.
Avoid installing a plugin as the first remedy. OBS forum resources list a Media Playlist Source plugin as another possible way to manage local playlists, but it is an optional extension rather than a fix for a misidentified source or wrong YouTube embed. Before installing any plugin, check its current compatibility and maintenance information. For a simple local playlist, VLC Video Source is the documented OBS path, provided VLC is installed and compatible.
If the content and channel are ready but running OBS on a computer overnight is the part you are trying to avoid, StreamNeo can take an uploaded video and keep a YouTube broadcast running without leaving your own computer on. That addresses unattended prerecorded broadcasting, not a misconfigured OBS source, and it does not change the source-specific fixes above.
Before committing, compare the operating options on the pricing page. When the file and channel are ready, start free — 24-hour trial, no card.
FAQ
Why does my Media Source start from the beginning when I return to a scene?
Check Restart playback when source becomes active and the source’s visibility behaviour. The former concerns activation; the latter determines what happens when the source is hidden. Test by switching away and back, because those controls are different from looping a file after it ends.
Does Media Source Loop continue a YouTube playlist?
No. Media Source Loop repeats the local file configured in that source. A YouTube playlist inside a Browser Source needs the YouTube embed playlist parameters, including listType=playlist, the playlist’s list identifier, and loop=1 if it should repeat.
How do I make a local playlist repeat in OBS?
Use VLC Video Source, add the local files in the desired order and enable its playlist loop control if the list should begin again after the last item. VLC must be installed, and OBS’s visibility behaviour determines what happens when the source is hidden.
Why does a YouTube embed play once and stop?
Check that the embed loads a playlist, rather than only an individual video, and that the playlist identifier is correct. Then inspect the player’s loop parameter and test the sequence in the Browser Source. A local-file loop setting in OBS does not control the embedded player.