YouTube Studio creates and manages the broadcast, but it does not perform the video loop. The loop is configured in an encoder such as OBS Studio, which plays your local promotion repeatedly and sends the feed to YouTube.
For a dependable setup, create or schedule the broadcast in YouTube Live Control Room, add the promotion as an OBS Media Source, enable Loop, connect OBS with YouTube’s stream URL and key, and test the preview before going live. This separates the jobs clearly and avoids searching Studio for a loop checkbox that is not there.
Understand what YouTube Studio and OBS each do
YouTube Live Control Room is where you create the broadcast and set its public-facing and stream-level options. You choose the title, description, audience setting, privacy, and other controls there. You also obtain the stream URL and stream key that allow an encoder to send video to that broadcast.
OBS Studio performs a different job. It reads the promotion file from your computer, places it in a scene, plays it, and sends the resulting picture and sound to YouTube. Its Media Source has a Loop setting that starts the file again when playback reaches the end. That is the setting responsible for repetition.
The distinction matters because a broadcast can exist in Studio without receiving any video. Conversely, OBS can be showing a moving picture locally without that picture reaching YouTube if it is not connected to the correct broadcast. You need both sides working together.
YouTube describes an encoder as either streaming software or a hardware encoder. OBS is one software choice, not the only possible encoder. A hardware encoder may suit a higher-production event, while OBS is useful when the promotion is stored locally and you want to inspect the scene, audio and loop behaviour on the same computer.
The stream key should be treated like a password. Do not paste it into a public document, share it in a screenshot, or leave it in a message that other people can access. If you think it has been exposed, use YouTube’s control to reset it and reconnect the encoder.
A local-file workflow also has a practical weakness: the computer must remain powered, connected and able to run OBS for the whole broadcast. If that is the part that has failed during previous overnight attempts, StreamNeo removes the need to keep your own computer running after you upload the video and connect the YouTube channel.
Create or schedule the YouTube broadcast
Open YouTube Studio and choose Create > Go Live. In Live Control Room, use Manage to schedule a broadcast for a later time, or use the stream controls when you need to create one for immediate use. The exact labels can change, so check the current YouTube encoder setup guidance if your Studio view differs.
Scheduling is useful for a shop promotion that should appear as an upcoming event. It gives you time to prepare the public page, share its link and let viewers opt into notifications. Scheduling does not remove the need to start the encoder. OBS still has to connect and send the feed before the broadcast can show your promotion.
Fill in the title and description with enough information for a viewer to understand the offer, location and dates. Check the audience setting carefully. If the promotion is directed at children or includes content that may affect that classification, review YouTube’s current requirements rather than choosing an option merely because the video is family-friendly. The article on Made for Kids on a 24/7 channel explains why this setting changes available features.
Choose the privacy setting deliberately:
| Use | Suitable privacy setting | What to remember |
|---|---|---|
| Rehearsal or connection test | Unlisted | People with the link can watch, but it is not presented as a public discovery stream |
| Published store promotion | Public | Anyone may find and watch it, subject to the channel’s normal visibility and rights settings |
| Private check | Private | Useful for a restricted review, but it is not a substitute for checking the encoder feed in Live Control Room |
Review whether you want DVR enabled. With DVR, viewers may be able to pause or rewind part of the live programme. That may help someone who joins during an offer explanation, but it also means the viewer might watch an earlier version of the promotion after its wording or price has changed.
Auto-start and auto-stop are separate decisions. They affect whether encoder actions start or stop the broadcast automatically. Read the current control descriptions before relying on them, especially if a scheduled promotion must not become public before someone checks the preview.
If you are testing a new file, create an unlisted broadcast rather than experimenting on the final public event. You can verify the complete path first, then prepare the public broadcast once the picture, audio and looping point behave as expected.
Add the promotion as an OBS Media Source
Install OBS Studio from the OBS Project and open it on the computer that contains the promotion file. Create a scene for the store broadcast. A scene is the arrangement OBS sends to YouTube, so keep it simple if the only required output is one prerecorded video.
In the Sources box, select Add, then choose Media Source. Give the source a clear name such as Store promotion, then browse to the video file. OBS documents common supported formats including MP4, TS, MOV, FLV, MKV, AVI, GIF and WebM. A supported extension does not guarantee that every file will behave perfectly, so play the actual file through the scene before the scheduled stream.
The Media Source properties include playback controls. Leave Local File selected and choose the promotion file. Check the source dimensions against the OBS canvas. If the video is vertical but the broadcast is horizontal, OBS may leave empty space or crop part of the promotion. Neither result is automatically wrong, but you should choose it intentionally because text near the edges can become difficult to read on a phone.
Use the preview to confirm that the complete offer is visible. Look for clipped logos, cut-off price text, black bars that hide important information and a first frame that appears before the promotion has loaded. If the promotion has several versions, name the files clearly so you do not select an outdated copy by accident.
Now check audio. The Media Source should appear in the OBS audio mixer when the file contains sound. Speak or play the promotion through the normal monitoring path and look for a moving level without persistent red clipping. A silent preview often means the file has no audio track, the source is muted, the desktop audio route is wrong, or the wrong file was selected.
If you need several separate promotions in a sequence, a VLC Video source can support playlists and a loop playlist option, but it requires VLC to be installed. For one self-contained store promotion, Media Source is usually easier to inspect because the file and the loop setting are together. Do not add extra software unless the playlist behaviour is actually needed.
Keep a copy of the final file outside the OBS scene folder. The scene points to a file path, and moving or renaming the file later can leave OBS unable to load it. Before the real broadcast, open the scene and confirm that the source still points to the intended version.
Enable Loop at the source
Open the Media Source properties and tick Loop. In OBS, the loop option is off by default in the documented Media Source workflow. Once enabled, OBS restarts the local file when it reaches the end. YouTube receives one continuing live feed; it does not need to know that the same promotion has begun again.
Watch one complete pass locally. Let the video reach its final frame and observe what happens next. The transition may be immediate, but you should still check for a flash, a blank frame, a pause or a visible jump in audio. These details are more noticeable when a short promotion repeats throughout the day.
If the file contains a fade-out followed by a long black section, that section will also repeat. Remove unwanted dead time in the source file if the offer should return promptly. If the video ends with a legal notice or contact detail, decide whether that is a useful closing frame or whether viewers will see it for too long before the next pass.
Looping does not repair the file itself. A damaged final frame, audio gap, inconsistent volume or incorrect aspect ratio will be repeated as reliably as the useful content. Treat the complete promotion as the unit to test, not merely the first few seconds.
Do not look for this setting in YouTube Studio. Studio controls the broadcast page and receives the encoder feed, while OBS controls how its source behaves before that feed is sent. If you later change encoders, find the equivalent repeat or playlist control in that encoder rather than assuming YouTube will repeat the file for you.
For a promotion that changes each week, replace the file only after stopping the active test or broadcast. Then reopen the source properties, confirm the selected path and play the new version from its beginning. Keeping the filename unchanged can reduce path problems, but it increases the risk of forgetting which version is currently loaded, so use a clear naming habit and verify the content visually.
Connect OBS with the stream URL and key
Return to YouTube Live Control Room and open the stream details for the broadcast you created or scheduled. Copy the Stream URL and Stream Key. YouTube recommends RTMPS for encoder connections, so use that protocol where the encoder offers it. The URL identifies the destination; the key identifies the stream connection associated with your channel.
In OBS, open Settings > Stream. Choose the YouTube service preset if it is available, or enter the service details manually. Paste the stream URL and key into the corresponding fields. Check that you are connecting the intended YouTube channel, particularly if the computer has been used for more than one channel.
Save the settings without publishing the stream yet. OBS may offer a test or connection action, but the useful test is the complete path into the correct Live Control Room broadcast. Starting OBS is not the same as clicking Go live. A scheduled event can receive a preview while remaining unpublished until you approve it in Studio.
YouTube’s encoder guidance recommends CBR, a keyframe interval of two seconds, and a keyframe interval no longer than four seconds. It also recommends AAC or MP3 audio. These are ingestion recommendations, not a promise that a particular home or shop connection can sustain the selected output.
For H.264 at 1080p30, YouTube’s published table lists 14 Mbps as recommended and 5 Mbps as minimum, as listed on YouTube’s site in October 2026. For H.264 at 720p30, the same table lists 8 Mbps as recommended and 3 Mbps as minimum, as listed on YouTube’s site in October 2026. The appropriate values depend on codec, resolution and frame rate, so check YouTube’s current live encoder settings table for the format you actually use.
A higher setting is not automatically better if the upload connection cannot hold it. A short promotion may look sharp in OBS while the outgoing connection struggles, producing buffering or dropped frames on YouTube. If your connection is modest, choose a format it can sustain consistently and test during the hours when the real broadcast will run.
Record the chosen settings in a small operating note. Include the resolution, frame rate, bitrate, keyframe interval, stream destination and the name of the video file. This makes the next setup less dependent on memory and helps another person diagnose a failed overnight start without changing several settings at once.
Validate the preview and audio before going live
Start the OBS stream while the YouTube broadcast is still in its preparation state. For a scheduled stream, YouTube recommends starting the encoder at least 15 minutes before the event, as listed on YouTube’s site in October 2026. That gives the preview time to appear and leaves room to correct a wrong source or connection before viewers arrive.
In Live Control Room, wait for the incoming preview. Confirm that it is the intended promotion, not an OBS test scene or a previous file. Check the opening frame, text position, colour, aspect ratio and the point at which the file returns to its beginning. If the promotion is short, let it complete at least once in the preview so you can see the transition.
Listen to the stream from a separate device if possible. Use headphones on a phone or another computer rather than relying only on OBS’s mixer. Check that speech is understandable, music is not overpowering it, and the beginning and end of the loop do not create a click or sudden level change.
Watch the stream health indicators in Live Control Room. They can point to an unstable connection, an output that does not match the selected settings, or missing audio. Correct the cause before publishing. Do not assume that a clean local OBS preview proves that YouTube is receiving the same result.
An unlisted test is useful when you want to view the actual YouTube playback without exposing a rehearsal as a public store broadcast. Tell any reviewer that it is a test, and remove or reuse it according to your channel’s normal housekeeping process after the check.
Before clicking Go live, check the title, description, privacy, audience setting and any rights or monetisation controls. These are separate from looping. A promotion can repeat correctly and still have a problem because its soundtrack, images or other material has not been cleared for the intended use.
If the preview is delayed, remain patient while checking the status rather than repeatedly changing the stream key. If the source is wrong, stop the encoder, correct OBS, and reconnect deliberately. Repeatedly starting and stopping while changing several settings makes it harder to identify what fixed the problem.
Monitor the live promotion and end it cleanly
Once the preview is correct, click Go live for a scheduled broadcast. Keep OBS and Live Control Room open during the first part of the public stream. Watch the health status, the OBS dropped-frame indicator, the audio mixer and the computer’s general condition. A local preview can continue even when the upload path is no longer healthy, so monitor the destination as well as the source.
Check the loop after it has run for a while. The start of the second pass should contain the same picture and audio as the start of the first. If the promotion is meant to run through the night, confirm that the computer will not sleep, install updates or close OBS automatically. Preventing sleep may keep the process running, but it does not solve a lost internet connection or an application crash.
Keep the original promotion file unchanged while it is in use. If you need to prepare a revised offer, make a new file and test it separately. Changing the active source during a live sale can produce an unexpected cut, silence or outdated price. Schedule content changes as separate operational events rather than editing without a checkpoint.
When the promotion should finish, use End Stream in Live Control Room, then stop the stream in OBS. This order makes the end of the YouTube broadcast explicit before the encoder is closed. If you are using auto-stop or another automated control, confirm its behaviour in the current Studio interface before relying on it for a public event.
YouTube automatically archives streams under 12 hours, as listed on YouTube’s site in October 2026. Longer broadcasts may be subject to different archive treatment, so do not assume that a very long continuous event will be preserved in the same way. If the recording matters, check the resulting archive after the stream ends.
After shutdown, review the archive or playback page. Confirm that it contains the expected promotion and that the ending is not an accidental frozen frame. Note any dropped frames, audio issues or connection warnings in your operating record. A short note after each broadcast is more useful than trying to remember what happened several days later.
For a wider comparison of keeping a streaming computer running against moving the workload away from that computer, see OBS plus your PC versus a cloud streaming service. If your workflow is specifically a long replay or continuous channel, how to run event replays as a continuous YouTube Live stream covers the same operational concerns in a different content context.
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
How do I loop a prerecorded video on YouTube Live?
Create the YouTube broadcast in Live Control Room, then add the video to an encoder such as OBS as a Media Source. Enable Loop in the encoder, connect it using YouTube’s stream URL and key, and verify the preview before going live. YouTube Studio manages the broadcast, but the encoder repeats the file.
Does YouTube Studio have a loop checkbox?
No. Studio provides the broadcast controls and receives the encoder feed; it does not provide the loop control for a local prerecorded file. Look for the repeat or playlist setting in the encoder that is playing your source.
Should I use 1080p or 720p for a store promotion?
Use the highest format your upload connection can sustain consistently, rather than selecting 1080p by default. YouTube’s current table lists different bitrate guidance for H.264 1080p30 and 720p30, so check the table for your codec and frame rate before choosing the output settings.
What should I do if the stream stops overnight?
Check YouTube’s stream health, OBS’s dropped-frame and connection indicators, the computer’s power and sleep settings, and the local file path. Test the complete setup during the intended operating period before making it public. If keeping a computer running is the recurring problem, consider a workflow that runs the uploaded video without leaving your own computer switched on.