How to loop background music in OBS

A stream with no floor under it feels longer than it is. Loading screens, the first ten minutes before anyone arrives, a break where you step away — silence in those stretches is the difference between a quiet moment and a dead one. The usual fix is a media source with a loop checkbox, or a separate player you alt-tab to. Both work; both put the control somewhere other than where your hands are. This puts the bed on a toggle key, next to everything else you press.

6 steps ~5 minBeginner Updated August 2026

How do you loop background music in OBS?

Upload the track to Kloot’s Media tool, set it to Hold, and pin it to a deck key. Held audio loops on completion until you press the key again. It plays through your existing Kloot browser source, so there is no media source to add and no second app to run.

You set it up here

It lands here — your deck, or your phone

kloot.gg/panel · deck Manual

Eight sounds, one page. Nothing fires on its own — every one is a press.

Tick “Control audio via OBS” on the Kloot browser source

Without it, OBS routes the source’s audio to your desktop instead of your stream — so you hear every sound perfectly and your viewers hear silence. It is one checkbox in the source’s properties, and it is the single most likely thing to go wrong here. Kloot shows the same reminder in the editor whenever a clip is unmuted.

What you’ll build

A music bed on one deck key that loops until you press it again, controllable from your browser or your phone without leaving your game.

Step by step

  1. 1

    Add your Kloot overlay to OBS (once)

    Paste your Kloot overlay URL into one Browser source. The bed plays through this source. You are not adding a media source, and you are not running a second application beside OBS.

  2. 2

    Upload the track

    Drag an MP3, OGG or WAV into the Media tool. The ceiling is 5 MB per audio file, which is about four minutes at 128 kbps — a typical loop fits, though only just, so a longer track may need a lower bitrate. The plan ceiling on length is 5 minutes on Creator and Pro and 60 seconds on Free, so a Free account wants a short loop rather than a full song.

    A track that loops cleanly matters more than a long one. Sixty well-cut seconds beat four minutes with an audible seam.

  3. 3

    Set it to Hold

    This is the whole trick. A Hold item loops on completion instead of stopping after one pass, and its deck key becomes a switch rather than a momentary press. Set to Fire, the same file would play once and stop — which is a very slow sound effect rather than a music bed.

  4. 4

    Set the level your audience hears

    The gain slider is what goes out. A bed wants to sit well under your voice — start lower than feels right in the panel, because your own monitoring is not what your viewers hear. Use Listen to audition the file itself; that is separate from the gain and never changes the broadcast.

    Set the bed level while you are actually talking, not against silence. A level that sounds fine in a quiet room buries you the moment you speak.

  5. 5

    Tick “Control audio via OBS”

    On the Kloot browser source in OBS, tick “Control audio via OBS”. Without it the bed plays to your desktop and not into your stream, and because you can hear it perfectly there is nothing to alert you. This one setting decides whether any of this reaches an audience.

  6. 6

    Pin it and switch it on

    Pin the item to a deck key. Press on when the segment starts, press off when you are back to the game. Because held audio loops until you stop it, a break of unknown length is covered — you do not need to guess how long you will be gone.

How a sound key runs, live

Upload, audition it privately, pin it, press it. The one step people skip is the OBS checkbox — it is in here, in order.

  1. You upload· step 1

    Drop in an MP3

    MP3, OGG or WAV, up to 5 MB each — which is roughly four minutes at 128 kbps, so a full track fits. WAV is normalised to MP3 on the way in. Sound effects are on every plan, including Free.

    You: Drag and drop
    Overlay: Nothing to draw — audio has no stage presence
    Viewers: Nothing yet
  2. You audition it· step 2

    Press Listen before it ever goes out

    Listen plays the file to you at full volume and changes nothing about the broadcast. It is deliberately separate from the gain slider: turning something up to hear it would change what your audience gets, which is not what “let me listen to this” means. It defaults off, because opening an editor while you are live should never start playing audio.

    You: Press Listen
    Overlay: Unaffected
    Viewers: Hears nothing — this is private
  3. You pin it· step 3

    Put each sound on its own key

    Pin the sounds you actually use to a deck page. The deck is a web app, so the same page is on your second monitor and on your phone — which is the whole hardware argument: you already own a touchscreen with more buttons than a Stream Deck.

    You: Pin to deck
    Overlay: Still clear
    Viewers: Still nothing
  4. You press it· step 4

    Press, and it plays — several at once if you want

    A Fire sound plays once and it is done. The renderer’s two-at-a-time limit is video-only, so sounds may overlap freely — which is exactly what a soundboard needs when a bit lands and you want the airhorn over the applause.

    You: One press per sound
    Overlay: Nothing visual changes
    Viewers: Hears it, if the OBS checkbox is on
  5. Or you hold it· step 5

    A track loops until you press again

    Set a music bed to Hold and it loops on completion instead of stopping after one pass. The key becomes a switch: press on at the start of the chill segment, press off when you are back to the game.

    You: Press on · press off
    Overlay: No visual — just the bed
    Viewers: A room that does not go silent

When a sound key earns its place

A soundboard adds something most streamers do not have at all, without buying hardware or running a second app:

The bit needs a punchline

When: Something lands in chat and the moment wants a rimshot, an airhorn, a sad tuba.

Why it works: Timing is the whole joke. A key you can hit in half a second beats alt-tabbing to a media player every time.

You do not want more hardware

When: Dedicated hardware costs more than your whole Kloot plan, and you already have a phone propped next to your keyboard.

Why it works: The deck is a web app. Your phone becomes the board, with more keys than the hardware and nothing to plug in.

Dead air during a lull

When: Loading screens, a break, the first ten minutes before anyone shows up.

Why it works: A held music bed loops until you turn it off, so a quiet stretch has a floor under it instead of silence.

An audio cue for a recurring beat

When: A donation read, a segment change, a “we are back” sting.

Why it works: The same sound every time is how an audience learns your show’s shape. Consistency is easier when it is one key.

The two shapes a sound takes

A momentary effect that plays once, or a track that loops until you switch it off. Both fall out of the same Fire/Hold split every other Kloot tool uses.

Fire · plays once
0:00Idle0:02

Sound effect

Press, it plays, it is done.

The airhorn, the rimshot, the ding when a goal is hit. The key is momentary — hold it down or tap it, the sound runs once and stops. Press it again mid-playback and it restarts rather than being ignored.

Momentary key — press, it plays
Hold · loops until you stop it
loops back to the start

Track or music bed

Loops on completion, until you toggle it off.

A lo-fi bed under a chat segment, rain under a horror game, a five-minute loop for the pre-stream window. Held audio loops instead of stopping after one pass — otherwise a music bed is just a very slow sound effect.

Switch — press on, press off
How many sounds fit
Free2 items

A real taste — one effect and one bed.

Creator · $15/mo50 items

A working board for most channels.

Pro · $25/mo200 items

A board plus a full overlay pack.

The capability is free — a free account can upload a sound and fire it. What a paid plan buys here is quantity, and a soundboard is a quantity problem: the item count is shared with your clips and frames, so a board plus an overlay pack is where Pro’s 200 earns its place.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Leaving the item on Fire, so the “bed” stops dead after one pass.
  • Setting the level against silence, then burying your own voice the moment you start talking.
  • Skipping the OBS audio checkbox and broadcasting a silent break you think is covered.
  • Uploading a track with an audible seam at the loop point — the join is the only part anyone notices.
  • Using music you do not have broadcast rights to, which is a VOD problem long after the stream ends.

Frequently asked

Does the track loop automatically?

Yes, when it is set to Hold. Held audio loops on completion and keeps going until you press the key again. Fire mode plays it once and stops, which is the wrong mode for a bed.

How long can the track be?

Up to 5 minutes on Creator and Pro, and 60 seconds on Free. The file itself is capped at 5 MB, roughly four minutes at 128 kbps — so length and file size tend to bind at about the same point.

Can I run a music bed and fire sound effects over it?

Yes. Kloot’s two-at-a-time limit applies to video only, so audio can overlap freely — an effect fires over the bed without interrupting it.

Is this a playlist?

No. It is one file on one key, looping. If you want variety, put two or three beds on separate keys and switch between them by hand — which is also how you keep control of what is playing during a break.

Do I need to worry about music licensing?

Yes, and that part is on you wherever the music comes from. Use a track you have the right to broadcast — stream-safe libraries exist for exactly this. Kloot plays the file you upload; it makes no claim about your right to use it.

Which plan do I need?

Audio is on every plan including Free. Free’s constraint is quantity and length — two items and 60-second clips — so a full-length bed wants Creator ($15/mo), which also raises you to 50 items.

Never a silent break.

Put a bed on a toggle key, press it when you step away, press it again when you are back. It loops until you stop it — and it rides the browser source you already added.

Start free

Free plan · Creator $15/mo · Pro $25/mo