In sheet metal rolling, shape defects called “cross buckling” or “vertical buckling” sometimes appear, which are wrinkles like washboards. The direction of the crest line of the cross buckling inclines at a certain degree against the rolling direction, while that of the vertical buckling is parallel to the rolling direction. In this study, analysis of the cross and vertical buckling is performed using the elementary theory of buckling. First, we calculate the stress distribution in three-dimensional sheet metal rolling near the exit cross section inside the roll gap. Next, we calculate the residual stress distribution near the exit cross section outside the roll gap. Furthermore, sheet metal buckling is analysed using the residual stress distribution. Type of buckling, distance between neighboring wrinkles, inclination of the crest line of the wrinkles against the width direction and the region where the wrinkles appear are obtained. We compare analytical results with published experimental results, and find that the former agree well with the latter. Hence, we conclude that this method of analysis is valid, and that the cause of the cross and vertical buckling is the residual stress distribution near the exit cross section outside the roll gap