Those inside the courtroom were warned about the extremely graphic nature of the video they were about to see, which was shot in Syria in April last year.
In the footage, Imran Khawaja, from west London, is seen delving into a bag of severed heads and lifting one out.
The 27-year-old can be heard saying: "Heads, kuffars (non-believers). Disgusting."
Khawaja pleaded guilty last month to preparing acts of terrorism, attending a terrorist training camp in Syria and receiving weapons training and is now facing a lengthy prison term.
Khawaja and his two co-defendants are expected to be sentenced later today.
On Thursday, the first day of a two-day sentencing hearing, Woolwich Crown Court was told how the defendant had faked his own death in Syria in order to sneak back into Britain last summer.
However, the authorities arrested him at Dover in June last year - six months after he travelled to the Middle East - as he tried to re-enter the UK in a vehicle driven by his cousin, Tahir Bhatti.
Bhatti, a taxi driver, is in the dock alongside Khawaja, and faces sentencing for assisting an offender.
A third defendant, Asim Ali, will be sentenced for terrorism funding, after he admitting giving £300 to Khawaja.
Prosecutor Brian Altman said Khawaja had been a frontman for the extremist organisation Rayat Al Tawheed, which has close ties to Islamic State.
In dozens of images, he was seen posing with weapons and encouraging other young British Muslims to travel to Syria for jihad.
The court also heard about the determined efforts of Khawaja's family back in London to persuade him to return home.
In one message, his sister Azmeena accused him of breaking his parents' hearts and begged him to head back.
She wrote: "Book your ticket and return home, or I'll come and get you."
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