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OBS has no documented built-in setting to resume a YouTube playlist at its last video after a restart. To do that, use an OBS Browser Source with a YouTube IFrame Player API player, save the playlist index and playback time somewhere that survives the restart, then restore both when the player loads. A basic static embed can show a playlist, but the documented embed parameters do not save its position automatically.

What you need to save to resume correctly

There are two separate pieces of playback state: the playlist item and the position within that item. YouTube’s IFrame Player API can report the current playlist index and control playback time. Your implementation must persist both values; saving only the index returns to the right video but not necessarily the point where it stopped.

  • Playlist index: the current video’s position in the playlist. The API’s index is zero-based when the playlist is not shuffled, so 0 is the first item.
  • Playback time: the elapsed time within that video, in seconds, to seek back to after loading it.

OBS describes Browser Source as a way to display a webpage in a scene. It does not document a checkbox that automatically saves and restores an embedded YouTube playlist’s state across an OBS process restart. OBS’s Sources Guide covers Browser Source and other source types; the controls for saving and loading playlist state come from the YouTube IFrame Player API.

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Set up a player that can restore the playlist

  1. Create a player page. Use a webpage that initializes a YouTube IFrame player with your playlist ID. The API’s loadPlaylist method accepts an index for the first video to play. The default is 0; pass the saved index when restoring. The API reference documents the player controls and events: YouTube IFrame Player API Reference.
  2. Add it to OBS. In OBS, add a Browser Source to the scene and point it at the player page. If the page is local or served by a local helper, keep that service available when OBS starts.
  3. Capture playback state while the player runs. Use getPlaylistIndex() to read the current playlist index and the player’s time API to read the current playback time. Save the values periodically and when playback state changes, so a sudden OBS shutdown is less likely to leave an old checkpoint.
  4. Store the checkpoint outside the OBS process. Write the index and time to durable storage, such as a local state file managed by a helper or a local service. Browser-page memory alone may disappear when OBS closes, so it is not sufficient for a restart recovery workflow.
  5. Restore on startup. Read the saved values, initialize the player, load the playlist at the saved index, and seek to the saved time after the player is ready. The API documents playlist loading and playback-time controls; designing the persistence and startup sequence is your implementation responsibility, not an automatic OBS feature.
  6. Test a full restart. Start playback, let it advance into a playlist item, close and reopen OBS, then check whether both the same item and approximately the same time return. Keep player controls visible during setup so you can recover manually if needed.

Static embed or API-controlled player?

Approach What it does Restart behavior Trade-off
Static YouTube playlist embed Loads a playlist using the documented embed parameters listType=playlist and list=PLAYLIST_ID. The cited embed documentation does not say it remembers the playlist index or playback time after OBS restarts. Simpler to set up, but does not provide documented automatic restoration of saved state.
API-controlled player with durable state Loads the playlist at an explicit index and can seek to a saved playback time. Can restore both values if your page or helper saves them and reloads them after startup. Requires custom code and persistent storage, plus a manual fallback if autoplay is blocked.

The embed parameters and their behavior are documented by Google at YouTube Embedded Players and Player Parameters. They select playlist content; they do not claim to provide persistent cross-restart resume state.

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Choose the right OBS source

Use Browser Source for an embedded YouTube web player. OBS’s Media Source plays supported local audio and video files. Its VLC Video source can create playlists of media items and provides controls such as loop and shuffle, but those features are not documented as a way to resume a YouTube playlist after OBS restarts. VLC Video also requires VLC to be installed. See OBS’s Media Sources documentation.

Plan for autoplay being blocked

A restored player may load without starting automatically. The IFrame API documents an onAutoplayBlocked event, and browser policies can prevent autoplay or scripted playback. Show a clear manual-play fallback: if the player loads at the saved item and time but remains paused, click its play control. Test this behavior in the browser environment used by your OBS Browser Source rather than assuming autoplay will always work. See the IFrame Player API reference and embedded player parameters.

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What YouTube’s resume guidance does—and does not—mean

YouTube Help says, “When you play the video again, it will restart from where you were.” That guidance describes resuming a partially watched video on YouTube; it does not establish that an embedded playlist in OBS will automatically restore its last playlist item after an OBS restart. For the OBS setup, explicitly save and restore the playlist index and playback time. See YouTube Help: Video progress bar.

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Troubleshoot a failed resume

  • It always starts at the first video: check that the saved index is being passed to loadPlaylist, and confirm that your saved index is zero-based. An index of 0 means the first item.
  • It returns to the right video but the beginning: persist the playback time as well as the playlist index, then seek after the player is ready.
  • It loads but stays paused: autoplay may have been blocked. Use the player controls to start it manually and check the API’s onAutoplayBlocked handling.
  • It restores an old position after a crash: save checkpoints periodically rather than only when closing OBS; a process crash may prevent a final save.
  • The Browser Source shows a blank page: verify that the page address is reachable from the OBS computer and that any local helper or server it needs is running.
  • You used VLC Video for a YouTube playlist: switch to Browser Source for the embedded player. VLC Video’s documented playlist is for media items, not a documented YouTube playlist resume mechanism.
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