Polycrystalline strontium ferrite thin films have been prepared by pulsed laser deposition. Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) analysis indicates that the films have the same composition as the target. This is consistent with the film structure, as determined from the X-ray diffraction patterns, which exhibit the peaks of the bulk material, with modified line intensity ratios which originate from preferential orientation effects. Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurements show that the magnetic properties of the films (saturation magnetization, remanence and coercive field) are comparable with that of the bulk.