Ba0.75Sr0.25TiO3 thin films have been deposited on single-crystal MgO substrates by pulsed laser deposition with the objective of forming ferroelectric films with a low Curie temperature. The films have been characterized by capacitance measurements and by transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (random and channeled). Films deposited with the substrate at 500 °C are polycrystalline, while those deposited at 650 °C are highly aligned and possibly epitaxial. The films are transparent in the visible region with an optical absorption edge at about 300 nm. Capacitance measurements on the polycrystalline films reveal a Curie transition at 283 K. The lowering of Curie temperature from the corresponding bulk sample is attributed to the films being under compression, as verified by Raman spectroscopy.