FePt-TiN nanocomposite films have been prepared on fused-quartz substrates by reactive sputtering and post-deposition thermal annealing. The effect of Fe/Pt ratio on the ordering transition behavior of FePt in such films was investigated. It was found that compared with the film with a nearly equiatomic Fe/Pt ratio, Pt-rich films tend to undergo ordering transition at lower temperature, and the ordered phase formed has a higher value of ordering parameter provided the films were annealed at the same temperature. In addition, for the Pt-rich films, with the formation of ordered FePt phase in the film, perpendicular anisotropy is developed even though there is no crystallographic preferred orientation for the FePt phase. We consider that fibrous grain structure may be formed in such FePt-TiN nanocomposite films, which contributes to the magnetization in the perpendicular direction. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.