The effects of wear tests on the electronic structure of amorphous nitrogenated carbon (a-C:H:N) films prepared in a radiofrequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition system from a mixture of methane and nitrogen have been investigated. The tribological properties were investigated with a tribometer in a ball-on-disk configuration. For different N-2 fractions, film structure and chemical composition were examined using conventional Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and also by means of high-lateral-resolution soft X-ray photoemission microscopy using synchrotron radiation. Nitrogen incorporation into the as-deposited amorphous carbon network results in an increase in the number of N-sp(2)-C bonded sites with respect to the films grown in a nitrogen-free atmosphere. The wear stability of the films was analyzed as a function of the nitrogen fraction, and a thorough description of the electronic structure was obtained in the as-deposited state and after wear testing. High-lateral-resolution photoemission microscopy reveals for the first time that inhomogeneities within the film after wear testing are correlated to nitrogen incorporation. The study of energy distribution curves and high-lateral-resolution images on the nitrogenated samples shows that a modification of the surface chemistry occurs by mechanical action.