Loop part of a video

A section that starts a few frames late or ends a few frames early is irritating to practise with, because every repeat clips the beginning of the move or the first note. The loop strip gives you several ways to get the boundaries exactly where you want them, and you can mix them.

• Handles: drag Loop start and Loop end along the thumbnails for a rough selection. Then use the arrow keys to nudge the selected handle one frame at a time, or Shift+arrows to move it a second.
• Set start and Set end: play the video and press I at the start of the section and O at the end. This is the quickest way when you are following the music or the action by ear.
• Start and End time boxes: type times directly when you already know them, for instance from notes on a lesson video.
• Frame stepping: "," and "." move the playhead back and forward one frame, so you can find the frame where a foot lands or a strum begins before pressing I or O.

A good habit is to start the section a beat or a breath before the part you are learning. That small run-up makes each repeat easier to follow, and it gives the eye a moment to settle after the jump back.

Dance moves and choreography

Loop one eight-count rather than the whole routine. You get the same few seconds back over and over without reaching for the screen between attempts, and once that count feels comfortable you can export the next one.

Guitar riffs, solos and other instruments

Trim the section to start on the first note of the riff and end just before it comes round again, so the repeat lands in time. Keep Smooth the sound at the join on to avoid a click at each restart, or turn it off if you want to hear exactly where the cut falls.

Sports technique and drills

A golf swing, a serve or a tumbling pass is over in two or three seconds. Looped ten or twenty times, you can watch one part of the body on each pass: feet first, then hips, then hands.

loop.video does not change playback speed, so the exported section runs at its real pace. Many players can play a file slower, which pairs well with a looped section when you need to see the detail.

Media players such as VLC have an A-B repeat that replays a stretch while you watch; the loop video in VLC guide shows how to use it. That suits a one-off session on a computer. The points disappear when you close the file, and they do not travel with it to your phone.

An exported section is a normal video file. It plays on repeat in any player, can be sent to a student or a team mate, and opens straight to the part that matters. Because the count is set when you export (×10 is a good starting point for practice), the file has a definite length and does not need any player setting at all. For one section played for a long, fixed time, set Length instead of a count.

• The export usually encodes the section once and reuses it for every pass. If the section happens to start on a key frame (a frame stored as a complete picture) and you keep a Cut join with Shape, Size and Quality left at Original, original and Standard, the frames are copied with no re-encoding.
• Sound follows the section: with Original you hear the same bar of music or the coach’s same words on every pass.
• For a silent loop to drop into a message or a slide, a GIF holds one pass of up to 30 seconds and plays the number of times you set. Details on the looping GIF page.
• When the aim is a section that repeats with no visible jump rather than a practice file, the seamless loop video page explains loop points and joins.