You've been there. You're trying to master that one specific guitar riff or maybe you’re a coder trying to understand a three-second visual explanation of a logic gate. You hit play. You watch. You manually drag the slider back. You miss the start point. You get frustrated. Honestly, it’s one of those tiny internet frictions that feels way more annoying than it actually is. Learning how to loop a certain part of a youtube video shouldn't feel like a chore, yet YouTube’s native "Loop" feature—the one you find by right-clicking—is surprisingly blunt. It just restarts the whole video. That is rarely what anyone actually wants.
Most people don't realize there are at least four distinct ways to handle this, ranging from "quick and dirty" URL hacks to robust third-party tools that let you save your loops for later. Whether you're on a desktop or a phone, you can stop the endless manual scrubbing.
The Right-Click Reality Check
Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way first. If you right-click on a YouTube video player, you’ll see a "Loop" option. It’s simple. It’s built-in. It’s also mostly useless for our specific problem. If you’re watching a 20-minute tutorial and you only need to see the 15-second segment at the 12-minute mark, the native loop button is going to make you sit through the first 12 minutes every single time. It's a binary switch: whole video or nothing.
Why the native loop fails
YouTube’s architecture is built for watch time. The longer you stay on a page, the better for their metrics. While they give us a basic loop, they haven't exactly made it easy to "clip" a loop experience natively within the main player interface without some extra steps.
The URL Hack: No Extensions Required
If you're allergic to installing browser extensions or you're on a work computer where you can't touch the settings, there is a legendary workaround. It involves a site called YouTube Loop (often associated with the domain https://www.google.com/search?q=listenonrepeat.com).
Here is how the trick works: go to the address bar of the video you’re watching. You’ll see the standard youtube.com/watch?v=... URL. If you simply type the word "repeat" after "youtube" in the URL (so it becomes youtuberepeat.com/...), it whisks you away to a third-party interface.
This interface is specifically designed for the task. It provides a slider underneath the video. You drag the left handle to your start point and the right handle to your end point. Done. It’s instantaneous. You don't have to log in. You don't have to pay. It just works.
But there’s a catch. Sometimes these third-party sites struggle with copyright-restricted content, especially music videos from major labels. If the video is "blocked for embedding," this method will fail. It’s a great first-line defense, but not a universal solution.
How to Loop a Certain Part of a YouTube Video via Mobile
Mobile is where things get tricky. The YouTube app is notoriously protective of its interface. You can’t right-click on a phone. You can't easily edit the URL in the app.
Using the "Chapters" Workaround
Believe it or not, creators often do the work for you. If a video has chapters (those little segments in the progress bar), you can sometimes use them to your advantage. While the app doesn't have a "loop chapter" button yet, many third-party mobile browsers like Brave or Firefox on Android allow you to request the "Desktop Site." Once you're in the desktop view on your phone, you can use the right-click (long-press) loop method, though it still only loops the whole video.
The "Clip" Feature
YouTube recently introduced a "Clip" button (the scissor icon) located under the video title. While its primary purpose is sharing a specific 5 to 60-second segment with friends, it serves as a functional loop. When you create a clip, the preview of that clip loops indefinitely on its own dedicated page. If you just need to stare at a 10-second movement over and over, hitting "Clip," setting the range, and just watching the preview loop is a surprisingly effective "no-install" mobile hack.
Professional Grade: Browser Extensions
If you do this often—say, you’re a dancer practicing choreography or a student transcribing interviews—you need a dedicated tool. The "Enhancer for YouTube" extension is basically the gold standard here. It’s available for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.
Once installed, it adds a customized toolbar to every YouTube video. One of those buttons is a dedicated loop tool. When you click it, you get a precise timestamp input. You can type in exactly 01:12 to 01:45.
Why this is better:
- Precision: You aren't dragging a clumsy slider with a mouse; you're typing numbers.
- Persistence: If you refresh the page, the extension remembers your loop settings.
- Speed Control: Most of these extensions allow you to slow the video down to 0.5x or 0.75x while looping, which is the "God mode" for learning complex tasks.
The "Embed" Method for the Tech-Savvy
There is a way to force YouTube to loop a specific segment using its own API parameters, though it's a bit "nerdy." This is essentially what the third-party sites are doing behind the scenes.
Every YouTube video can be turned into an embeddable player. If you take the video ID (the string of gibberish after v=) and put it into this format:https://www.youtube.com/embed/[VIDEO_ID]?start=[SECONDS]&end=[SECONDS]&loop=1&playlist=[VIDEO_ID]
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You basically create a private loop room. For example, if you want a video to start at 30 seconds and end at 60 seconds, you’d set start=30 and end=60. The playlist parameter is the weird part—YouTube’s API requires a playlist ID to trigger the loop function, so by putting the video’s own ID there, you’re telling it to "play this playlist of one video on repeat."
It’s a bit of a hassle to type out, but it’s the most "pure" way to do it without external software.
Dealing with the "Watch History" Problem
One thing people forget is that looping a 10-second segment 50 times will absolutely wreck your YouTube recommendations. The algorithm sees that you've "watched" a video 50 times in a row and assumes you want to see every single piece of content that creator has ever produced.
If you’re going to spend an hour looping a specific part of a video, I strongly suggest doing it in an Incognito window. This keeps your carefully curated "Home" feed from being taken over by "How to Solder" videos just because you needed to see one specific joint technique 40 times.
Actionable Next Steps
If you need to loop something right now, here is your hierarchy of effort:
- The 10-second fix: If you just need a quick loop and don't care about precision, right-click the video and select "Loop." It's not perfect, but it's there.
- The "Repeat" Hack: Click your address bar, type "repeat" after "youtube" in the URL, and use the sliders. This is the best balance of ease and functionality.
- The Power User Move: Download the Enhancer for YouTube browser extension. It’s a "set it and forget it" solution that makes the YouTube experience 10x better across the board, not just for looping.
- Mobile Users: Look for the "Clip" icon. Set your duration, and just let the preview window play. It’s the only way to get a localized loop inside the official app without losing your mind.
The reality is that YouTube’s interface is designed for passive consumption, not active learning. By using these workarounds, you’re taking back control of the player. Whether you're using the URL trick or a dedicated extension, you can finally stop fighting the seeker bar and actually focus on what you're trying to watch.