The melting process of YBa2Cu3Ox (YBCO or Y123) films under an oxygen atmosphere was observed in situ by means of high-temperature optical microscopy. The films were classified by pole figure measurement as c-axis oriented, with two different in-plane orientations (denoted as 0 and 45 degrees). In the 45 degrees-oriented films, electron diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) detected an intermediate Cu2O nanolayer in the vicinity of the interface. The melting mode and the thermal stability of the YBCO thin films with different in-plane orientations were greatly influenced by oxygen partial pressure. Notably, the thermal stability of the 45 degrees-oriented YBCO films dramatically grew with increasing oxygen partial pressure. We attributed this effect to a change in the intermediate Cu2O nanolayer thermal stability. We conclude and suggest that the thermal stability of YBCO films can be significantly enhanced by inserting a Cu2O buffer nanolayer.