A mold was designed to create various strains in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates before the deposition of TiO 2 film to simulate deposition process on a cylindrical drum. The residual stress of the PET substrate with TiO 2 film significantly increased with increasing strain, decreasing the radius of curvature. Compared to the as-received PET substrate, there was a noticeable increase in the surface roughness in the PET/TiO 2 specimens when a large strain was applied. The formation of voids or cavities in the TiO 2 layer significantly increased the roughness of the specimen. The mean cavity size and depth increased with increasing strain. For strains ≦4%, the specimen's hardness and Young's modulus factored by the voids/cavities increased with increasing surface roughness. The optical absorption increased with increasing surface roughness before becoming asymptotic to a constant value. The strain applied to the PET substrate before TiO 2 deposition greatly affects the optical reflection, transmittance, and absorption.