An optical film(3) of the invention comprises a polarizing plate(1) and plural retardation films(2) so that an absorption axis of the polarizing plate(1) is perpendicular or parallel to slow axes of the plural retardation films(2) and the slow axes of the plural retardation films(2) are parallel to one another. An Nz value expressed by Nz=(nx.sub.1-nz.sub.1)/(nx.sub.1-ny.sub.1) is in the range of from 0.15 to 0.85 and an in-plane retardation Re.sub.1 expressed by Re.sub.1=(nx.sub.1-ny.sub.1).times.d.sub.1 is in the range of from 200 to 350 nm, where in each of the plural retardation films, a direction along with the refractive index in the film plane is maximum is defined as the X-axis, a direction perpendicular to the X-axis as the Y-axis, the thickness direction of the film as the Z-axis, and where refractive indices in each axial direction are defined as nx.sub.1, ny.sub.1, and nz.sub.1, respectively, and the thickness of the film as d.sub.1 (nm). The optical film may realize an easily viewable display with high contrast ratio in a wide range.