Stoichiometric thin film samples of the ternary ZnGa2Te4 defect chalcopyrite compound were prepared and characterized by X-ray diffraction technique. The elemental chemical composition of the prepared bulk material as well as of the as-deposited film was determined by energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry. ZnGa2Te4 thin films were deposited, by conventional thermal evaporation technique onto highly cleaned glass substrates. The X-ray and electron diffraction studies revealed that the as-deposited and the annealed ZnGa2Te4 films at annealing temperature t(a) <= 548 K are amorphous, while those annealed at t(a) >= 573 K (for 1 h), are polycrystalline. The optical properties of the as-deposited films have been investigated for the first time at normal incidence in the spectral range from 500 to 2500 nm. The refractive index dispersion in the transmission and low absorption region is adequately described by the Wemple-DiDomenico single oscillator model, whereby, the values of the oscillator parameters have been calculated. The analysis of the optical absorption coefficient revealed an in-direct optical transition with energy of 1.33 eV for the as-deposited sample. This work suggested that ZnGa2Te4 is a good candidate in solar cell devices as an absorbing layer. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.