An audio playback apparatus realizes both of normal playback and loop playback with respect to compressive coded data forming an audio waveform of one phrase, which is constituted by a string of samples and which includes a loop section. In the normal playback, a decoder sequentially reproduces the samples. In the loop playback, the decoder sequentially reproduces the samples until a sample preceding a loop start point, then, the decoder repeatedly reproduces the samples belonging to the loop section, then, the decoder sequentially reproduces the samples started from the loop start point. Alternatively, two decoders are alternately controlled to perform decoding in the loop playback. Thus, it is possible to reliably output all the samples including the samples of the loop section without causing breaks.