A brief description of a plasma-optic system intended for filtered arc-deposition and the influence of its operational parameters on the deposition rate of TiN thin films are presented. A comparison of the microstructure, hardness, toughness, crystal lattice parameter, residual stresses, adhesion, performance and some other properties of TiN coatings deposited using either filtered arc-evaporation or conventional steered arc-evaporation techniques are given. The TiN coatings obtained by filtered arc-deposition are found to have a nanometre-grained structure, be highly uniform, smooth and droplet-phase-free. This leads to obtaining higher values of their hardness, toughness and adhesion compared with conventionally deposited TiN coatings, which results in improved performance of these coatings in wear and sliding applications.