The behavior of electronic properties of GaAs under hydrostatic pressure up to 120 kbar have been predicted using the pseudopotential scheme. The agreement between our results and the available experimental data is generally satisfactory. It is found that the material of interest goes over from a direct band gap to an indirect one at pressure of 30 kbar provided that no structural phase transformation has been occurred. Plots of the valence and conduction charge distributions along the [1 1 1] direction and their pressure dependencies are also presented and discussed. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.