---
title: "The three kinds of loop"
description: "Choose between repeating playback, joining the document's ends, and repeating one property's motion."
canonical: "https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/concepts/animation-loops/"
last_updated: 2026-10-27
---

# The three kinds of loop

Choose between repeating playback, joining the document's ends, and repeating one property's motion.

| You want to… | Use | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Watch one stretch repeatedly while editing | `b` and `n` for a work area, or `o` on a move | The interval the editor plays |
| Deliver a whole animation whose end returns to its start | **Make the animation loop seamlessly** | A setting of the document: eligible properties play back to their start by the end, and exports get the ending keys |
| Keep one property repeating while the rest continues | A **Loop** behaviour | That property's motion before or after its authored keys, within its layer's span |

A work area does not repair a jump between poses. It lets you inspect one. A seamless ending
matches values, but you still shape the arrival and departure eases if you need continuous speed.
An end key you set yourself, such as a rotation of 360°, stays under your control.

Seamless endings apply to numeric keys in the main composition, with at least two keys before
the end and all keys within the document. They do not rewrite nested precomp motion, shape
paths, or properties driven by behaviours or rigs. A move with only a start and an end key
is treated as a loop you made yourself.

Loop behaviours have **cycle**, **ping-pong**, **continue** and **offset** modes. A cycle
repeats the same values; ping-pong reverses direction. Continue extends the end velocity.
Offset adds the travelled distance on each pass, so a repeating walk can keep moving forward.

See [work areas and seamless loops](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/animating.md#work-areas-and-seamless-loops) and
[Loop behaviour](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/behaviours.md#motion-of-its-own) for the controls.