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How to Make OBS Resume a YouTube Playlist After a Restart

Restore a YouTube playlist in OBS by saving its current item and playback time, then loading and seeking to both after the embedded player is ready.
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OBS does not document a built-in setting that resumes a YouTube playlist at its last video after OBS restarts. To restore both the playlist item and the position within it, show a YouTube player in an OBS Browser Source, save the player’s current playlist index and playback time somewhere that survives the restart, then reload and seek to those saved values when the player is ready.

What you need to restore

There are two separate pieces of playback state:

  • Playlist index: identifies which video was playing. YouTube’s IFrame Player API uses a zero-based index when the playlist is not shuffled, so index 0 means the first item.
  • Playback time: identifies where playback stopped within that video. Saving only the index returns to the correct item, but not necessarily to the same point in it.

OBS’s Browser Source displays a webpage, making it the relevant OBS source for an embedded YouTube player. A static playlist embed can load a playlist, but the documented embed parameters do not promise to remember its position across an OBS restart.

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Choose the right OBS source

Browser Source for an embedded YouTube player

Use a Browser Source when the playlist is played through a webpage or custom page using YouTube’s embedded player. OBS describes this source as a way to display a webpage in a scene. The YouTube IFrame Player API can then control which playlist item loads and report the current item.

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Media Source and VLC Video are different

OBS Media Source plays supported local audio and video files. VLC Video can play a playlist of media items and offers controls such as loop and shuffle, but its documented playlist features are not a YouTube playlist resume-after-restart mechanism. Do not choose either source expecting it to save and restore an embedded YouTube playlist’s position.

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Set up playlist resuming with the YouTube IFrame Player API

This is an implementation pattern, not an OBS checkbox. The API provides controls for loading a playlist at an index and managing playback time; your player page or helper must persist the values so they remain available after OBS closes.

  1. Add a Browser Source. In OBS, add a Browser Source to the scene where the YouTube player should appear. Point it to a player page that embeds the playlist. A basic playlist embed uses listType=playlist and list=PLAYLIST_ID; those parameters select the playlist but do not themselves save its position.
  2. Initialize an API-controlled player with the playlist ID. Use YouTube’s IFrame Player API and load the playlist at the saved index. The optional index argument to loadPlaylist specifies the first video to play; if omitted, it defaults to 0.
  3. Capture the current state during playback. Read the active item with getPlaylistIndex() and read the playback position using the player’s time API. Save both values, rather than only the video index.
  4. Persist the values outside the player session. Store the index and time in durable state that your setup can read after the OBS process restarts—for example, a local state file managed by a helper or a local service. The cited OBS and YouTube documentation does not prescribe a specific storage implementation.
  5. Restore after the player is ready. When OBS opens the Browser Source, read the saved values, load the playlist beginning at the saved index, and seek to the saved playback time after the player reports that it is ready. If you seek before initialization completes, the seek may not take effect.
  6. Test a restart and leave a manual fallback. Keep player controls visible while setting up and testing. If playback does not start automatically, use the player controls to start it and confirm the intended item and time.

Account for autoplay restrictions

Automatic playback is not guaranteed. YouTube’s IFrame Player API documents an onAutoplayBlocked event, and browser policies can block autoplay or scripted playback. If the playlist restores but remains paused, interact with the embedded player and press Play. Treat that manual action as a possible part of the setup rather than assuming a saved index or time guarantees playback will begin.

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Why YouTube’s watch-history resume is not the same

YouTube Help says that playing a video again can restart it from where you left off, and that selecting a partially watched video will usually resume it. That guidance concerns selecting a partially watched video on YouTube; it does not establish that an embedded playlist in OBS will automatically restore its last playlist item after OBS restarts.

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Or let it run in the cloud

If your goal is to keep uploaded videos running as a 24/7 YouTube live stream, StreamNeo is a separate cloud-based option rather than an OBS playlist-resume feature. Upload a recording or build a playlist, add your YouTube stream key once, and go live. StreamNeo loops the uploaded videos from the cloud, so your computer and home connection do not have to stay on.

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Troubleshooting

The playlist always starts at the first video

Check that your saved index is being read on startup and passed to loadPlaylist. An omitted index defaults to 0. Also confirm that the value is the current playlist index, not a video ID or a one-based item number.

The right video loads, but starts at the beginning

Save and restore playback time as well as the index. Perform the seek after the player is ready; calling it too early can prevent the restored position from taking effect.

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The restored playlist is paused

Autoplay may have been blocked by browser policy. Use the embedded player’s controls to start playback, and check whether the player reports an autoplay-blocked event.

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The playlist item does not match the saved index

getPlaylistIndex() is zero-based when the playlist is not shuffled. If shuffle is enabled, do not assume the index maps to the same ordering as an unshuffled playlist; verify the loaded item manually during testing.

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