Optical transmission spectroscopy and spectroscopic ellipsometry were used to extract the optical properties of an epitaxially grown quasi-tetragonal BiFeO 3 thin film in the near infrared to near ultraviolet range. The absorption spectrum is overall blue shifted compared with that of rhombohedral BiFeO 3 , with an absorption onset near 2.25 eV, a direct 3.1 eV band gap, and charge transfer excitations that are ϳ0.4 eV higher than those of the rhombohedral counterpart. We interpret these results in terms of structural strain and local symmetry breaking.