If you want a video or audio file to repeat in OBS, open the Media Source properties and enable Loop. Loop repeats the file when it reaches the end; it does not control what happens when the source becomes visible again.
Restart playback when source becomes active is a separate setting. It controls whether the file starts from the beginning when its source becomes active in the current scene. YouTube receives the finished encoder feed from OBS, so these are OBS playback controls, not YouTube ingest settings.
Where Media Source settings fit in the stream
A YouTube Live broadcast has several separate stages. Your media file is read by OBS, placed into a scene, mixed with any other sources, encoded, and sent to YouTube. YouTube then receives that encoder feed and displays it to viewers.
The Media Source properties sit at the first part of that chain. They decide how one selected file behaves inside OBS. They do not alter the YouTube stream key, ingest server, keyframe interval, video bitrate, or the status of your live broadcast.
This distinction matters when troubleshooting. If a file stops at its final frame, inspect its Media Source settings. If OBS shows the clip correctly but YouTube reports poor stream health, investigate the encoder connection and stream settings separately. Changing Loop cannot repair an unstable upload connection.
For an always-on devotional channel, you might use one long background video with a music track. For a local news loop, you might use a short set of prepared clips. For either case, decide first whether you need one file repeated, a source that restarts when shown, or a playlist of separate files.
The file itself also needs to be suitable for your use. If you are preparing a music stream, review the rights and platform rules before going live. A looping setting does not change ownership or permission. If your planned channel uses film or music content, read the practical issues in this guide to broadcasting Bollywood songs on YouTube before treating a technical setup as a publishing plan.
Open the Media Source properties
In OBS, go to the scene where the file should appear. In the Sources panel, add a Media Source, or select an existing Media Source and open its properties. Choose the local file you want OBS to play.
OBS documents common video formats including .mp4, .ts, .mov, .flv, .mkv, .avi, .gif, and .webm. It also documents audio formats including .mp3, .aac, .ogg, and .wav. The exact result can still depend on the file, its codec, your operating system, and the OBS build installed on your computer, so preview the actual file rather than assuming that its extension tells you everything.
The properties window contains several controls. The two that cause the most confusion are Loop and Restart playback when source becomes active. Read them as answers to different questions:
| Setting | Question it answers | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Loop | What should happen when the file reaches its end? | Repeat a background file continuously |
| Restart playback when source becomes active | What should happen when the source becomes active and visible? | Start an intro from the beginning each time it appears |
| Show nothing when playback ends | What should remain visible after a one-time file finishes? | Remove an alert or intro after playback |
| Close file when inactive | Should OBS unload the file while it is hidden or off the current scene? | Reduce use of local resources when a source is not needed |
OBS lists Loop as off by default, so do not assume a newly added Media Source will repeat. Defaults can change in later versions, and labels can look slightly different, so confirm the controls in the build you are using.
Turn on Loop for end-of-file repeat
Enable Loop when the file should begin again after reaching its end. This is the setting for a continuous single-file background, such as a prepared ambience video, a temple visual, or a station ident that should run repeatedly.
Loop answers the question, “What happens at the end of playback?” With Loop enabled, OBS reaches the end of the file and starts that file again. It does not mean “restart whenever the source is shown”, and it does not mean that every source in the scene will restart.
For a background that should continue for hours, the simplest arrangement is usually one tested file in one Media Source with Loop enabled. Keep the source visible in the scene and avoid changing its visibility unless you deliberately want activation behaviour to matter.
Loop also does not make a playlist. If you add one long file, OBS repeats that one file. If you need several episodes, songs, or announcements to play in sequence, a single Media Source is the wrong control for that job. You can use OBS’s VLC Video source for a playlist, provided VLC is installed and its bitness matches OBS. The VLC source has its own playlist loop and visibility behaviour settings, which are separate from Media Source settings.
If your channel is built from recorded programmes rather than one long file, a schedule may be more useful than a single repeating source. For example, this guide to scheduling podcast episodes in a continuous YouTube Live stream covers the planning problem behind a sequence of programmes. Loop is still useful for a holding screen or a short background, but it cannot decide when each different programme should start.
A loop can also expose flaws in the source. You may hear a gap, see a black frame, or notice a jump in the audio at the file boundary. Those are properties of the file and its transition, not evidence that YouTube has stopped receiving the stream. Watch the OBS preview at the exact point where the file repeats, then check the YouTube preview as well.
Understand restart playback when the source becomes active
Restart playback when source becomes active controls activation, not the end of the file. OBS describes this as restarting the file when the source becomes active in the current scene and visible.
Leave this option enabled when every appearance should begin at the start. It is useful for an intro, an alert, a short announcement, or a scene that shows a video only when you switch to it. When you return to that scene, the source is intended to start again rather than continue from the earlier position.
This setting is independent of Loop. You can have these combinations:
- Loop on, restart on: the file repeats at its end, and returning to the source starts it from the beginning.
- Loop on, restart off: the file repeats at its end, but activation does not ask OBS to restart it. This may suit a background that should not reset whenever a scene is shown again.
- Loop off, restart on: the file plays once, but each new activation starts a fresh play. This suits a scene-based intro or alert.
- Loop off, restart off: the file plays once and does not have the repeat or activation restart requested. This is suitable only when that behaviour matches your scene design.
The option does not promise that every possible hide-and-show sequence will behave like a manually pressed rewind button. OBS must process the visibility change. A narrow timing issue has been reported when a source is hidden and shown again extremely quickly, particularly around the end of playback. If the restart does not happen in that situation, avoid relying on an immediate visibility toggle. Allow the scene change to process, or use an explicit playback restart in your workflow.
For a one-time clip that should disappear rather than leave its final frame on screen, keep Loop off and consider Show nothing when playback ends. OBS documents that option as on by default. The important combination is not simply “restart on”; it is:
- Loop off, so the clip can finish.
- Restart on, if every activation should begin at the start.
- Show nothing when playback ends, if the finished frame should not remain visible.
For a background file that should carry on without resetting whenever you return to a scene, be cautious about enabling restart-on-activation. Loop and activation can both be enabled, but that means a scene change may put the file back at its beginning even though the file was already repeating normally.
Choose between a single file and a playlist
A single Media Source is appropriate when one file is the unit you want to repeat. This keeps the decision clear: OBS plays that file, loops it if selected, and applies the activation setting when the source becomes active.
A playlist is a different requirement. If you want five bhajans, several news segments, or a sequence of podcast episodes, use a playlist-capable source rather than trying to make Loop perform that job. OBS documents the VLC Video source for playlists. It requires VLC to be installed, and 64-bit OBS requires 64-bit VLC.
The VLC source has its own controls. Its documented Loop Playlist setting is on by default, while its visibility behaviour defaults to stopping when not visible and restarting when visible. Do not transfer those defaults to a Media Source. The names may sound similar, but they belong to different source types and answer different questions.
Compare the choices this way:
| Requirement | Better starting point | Main check |
|---|---|---|
| One long video repeated | Media Source with Loop | Watch the boundary between the final and first frames |
| One short intro each time a scene appears | Media Source with Loop off and restart on | Switch away and back during a test |
| Several files in sequence | VLC Video playlist or another suitable workflow | Confirm order, transitions, and visibility behaviour |
| A one-time alert that should vanish | Media Source with Loop off and Show nothing when playback ends | Check what remains after the final frame |
| A hidden source that should unload its file | Media Source with Close file when inactive | Check for a short reload delay when shown again |
If the content needs a timetable, consider a scheduling workflow rather than a source checkbox. If the content is a continuous radio-style stream, also plan the metadata, thumbnail, description, and changes you will make while the broadcast is running. This guide to changing the thumbnail and description on a 24/7 YouTube radio stream deals with that channel-level part of the job.
Check the source and audio in OBS
Before connecting the broadcast to viewers, check the source in OBS itself. Scrub through the beginning, middle, and end of the file. Then watch the point where it should loop. Look for a black frame, an abrupt crop change, a silent gap, or a sudden change in loudness.
If the file contains no audio, the video can still appear correct while the live broadcast is silent. Add or configure an audio source deliberately and watch the Audio Mixer meters. If you are building a stream from files that do not all contain audio, read how to add silence when a video has no audio in an FFmpeg YouTube stream for the related audio-continuity problem. The exact remedy depends on whether OBS or another tool is producing the final feed.
Listen with headphones as well as watching the meters. A moving meter does not by itself prove that the audio is pleasant, correctly routed, or free from clipping. Check that the intended source is active, that desktop audio is not being added unintentionally, and that the file does not contain a long silent section at its loop boundary.
The Close file when inactive option is separate from both Loop and restart-on-activation. OBS documents it as unloading the file while the source is hidden or off the current scene. It may reduce local resource use, but OBS also notes that reloading can introduce a short delay when the source becomes visible again. For a background source that must appear immediately, test this option before relying on it.
Other properties should be changed only for a reason. OBS documents hardware decoding as off by default, speed at 100 per cent with an adjustable range from 1 to 200 per cent, and YUV colour range as Partial. These are not YouTube ingest controls. If a file has colour, timing, or decoding problems, test a known-good copy before changing several properties at once.
Preview and test the YouTube encoder feed
Once the OBS preview behaves correctly, test the complete path to YouTube. YouTube’s encoder workflow uses the stream URL and stream key to connect streaming software or a hardware encoder. Start the encoder, open the Live Control Room preview, and inspect what YouTube receives.
Use a representative test. If the real broadcast contains music, speech, motion, and scene changes, include those elements in the test file or test scene. A static preview may not reveal a problem that appears during a busy video or at a loop boundary.
YouTube recommends previewing and testing before going live, then monitoring stream health and audio and video quality during the event. Consult the current YouTube encoder streaming documentation for the current workflow and YouTube’s live encoder settings guidance before changing encoder values. The settings on those pages can change, so do not treat an old screenshot or remembered value as a permanent rule.
For context, YouTube’s current help guidance lists a two-second keyframe frequency as recommended and says not to exceed four seconds. It also lists 128 Kbps for stereo audio. Those figures belong to the encoder feed, not to the Media Source Loop checkbox. If your OBS source repeats correctly but the YouTube preview is unstable, examine the encoder settings, upload connection, and stream health independently.
A practical overnight test should include a complete source activation, one full file ending, one loop, and any planned scene changes. Check the local OBS preview and the YouTube preview rather than relying on only one of them. If you cannot leave the computer running reliably, a cloud workflow can remove the need to keep OBS open on that computer: StreamNeo lets you upload the prepared file, provide the YouTube stream key, and have the broadcast run with automatic monitoring and restart when a drop occurs.
Do not treat a successful short test as proof that every future file will behave identically. Replacing the file can change its duration, audio layout, frame rate, codec, or boundary behaviour. Test the actual file and scene arrangement that you intend to publish.
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FAQ
Does Loop restart a video whenever I show the source?
No. Loop repeats the file after it reaches the end. Restart playback when source becomes active controls what happens when the source becomes active and visible in the current scene.
Should Loop be on for a one-time intro?
Usually not. Leave Loop off so the intro can finish, enable restart-on-activation if each appearance should begin at the start, and consider Show nothing when playback ends if the final frame should disappear.
Why did my source not restart after a very quick scene change?
OBS must process the visibility change before the activation behaviour can take effect. An extremely rapid hide-and-show sequence can be a narrow timing edge case, so allow the scene change to process or use an explicit playback restart rather than relying on an immediate toggle.
Are OBS Media Source settings the same as YouTube Live settings?
No. Media Source properties control how OBS plays and displays the selected file. YouTube receives the encoded result, while stream URL, stream key, encoder settings, preview, and stream-health checks belong to the YouTube broadcast workflow.