The carbon-containing hard coating (1) according to the invention comprises nano-crystalline grains being separated from each other by grain boundaries, wherein said hard coating comprises aluminum (Al), at least one additional metal (Me1, Me2), carbon (C) and at least one further element (E1, E2) and has the chemical composition: (Al.sub.xMe1.sub.yMe2.sub.z)C.sub.uE1.sub.vE2.sub.w wherein Me1 is a metal, and Me2 is a metal, with x>0.4 and x+y+z=1 and y,z.gtoreq.0, and E1 and E2 are further chemical elements with 1>u>0 and u+v+w=1 and v,w.gtoreq.0. The grain boundaries have a higher concentration of carbon atoms than the nano-crystalline grains.