An optical film in which a polarizing plate and a retardation film are laminated so that an absorbing axis of the polarizing plate and a slow axis of the retardation film may be perpendicular or may be parallel to each other, wherein a value Nz represented by Nz=(nx₁-nz₁)/(nx₁-ny₁) satisfies a range of 0.4 through 0.6, and an in-plane retardation Re₁=(nx₁-ny₁)d₁ is 200 through 350 nm, where, a direction of the retardation film in which an in-plane refractive index within the film surface concerned gives a maximum is defined as X-axis, a direction perpendicular to X axis is defined as Y-axis, a thickness direction of the film is defined as Z-axis, refractive indexes in axial direction are defined as nx₁, ny₁, nz₁, respectively, and a thickness of the film is defined as d₁ (nm), may realize an easily viewable display with high contrast ratio in a wide range when applied to a display system, preferably used for a liquid crystal display operating in IPS mode.