Raspberry Pi Video Looper
Digital signage
Sometimes you just need a screen to loop a video — at an exhibition, in a hallway, or as part of an installation. You don't want a full computer for that; a Raspberry Pi does the job perfectly. Video Looper is a free, open-source disk image that turns a Pi into a dedicated video player. You flash it onto an SD card, plug in a USB stick with your videos, and it loops them endlessly. No desktop, no menus, no fuss.
One important thing to know: Video Looper works with Raspberry Pi models up to the Pi 4. It does not work on the Raspberry Pi 5.
Imane Benyecif made a video walkthrough of the entire setup process:
What You Need
- A Raspberry Pi (any model from Pi 1 B+ through Pi 4, or Pi Zero WH)
- A microSD card (4 GB minimum)
- A USB stick formatted as FAT32, ExFAT, or NTFS
- A power supply (2.5A for Pi 3, 3A for Pi 4)
- An HDMI cable and a display
- Your video files in MP4 format
How It Works
Head over to videolooper.de and download the latest image file. Flash it to your microSD card using Raspberry Pi Imager or Balena Etcher — both handle the compressed image directly, no need to unzip first.
Insert the SD card into your Pi, connect it to a display via HDMI, and plug in the power. The Pi boots straight into looper mode. Now put your MP4 files on a USB stick, plug it in, and playback starts automatically. That's it.
Preparing Your Videos
Video Looper uses the H.264 codec for playback, so your files need to be MP4 containers with H.264 video at a maximum resolution of 1080p. 4K is not supported.
If your videos are in a different format, Handbrake is a good free tool for converting them. Just select the "Fast 1080p30" preset and export as MP4.
Going Further
If you want to tweak the behaviour, you can access the Pi over SSH (default credentials: pi / video) and edit the configuration file at /boot/video_looper.ini. From there you can enable random playback order, load M3U playlists, or set up GPIO buttons for physical controls.
The full documentation is available on videolooper.de.