Extended x-ray absorption fine-structure (EXAFS) studies have been performed, in transmission mode, on Cu,,Zn,,Al,, brass using the synchrotron radiation facility at Laboratoire d'utilisation du Rayonnement ElectromagnCtique. The spectra have been recorded at the Cu K and Zn K edges for different temperatures around the martensitic transformation temperature domain. The study of the temperature dependence of the Cu and Zn surroundings provides two main pieces of information.(i) The pure Cu sublattice deviates from the virtual crystal and absorbs the local stresses owing to thedifferent sizesofthe Zn, Cu and Alatomswhichconstitute thesecondsublattice; this behaviour is similar to that of ternary semiconducting random solid solutions such as In,Ga, _,As or Cd,Hgl -,Te.(ii) Zn and Cu neighbour environments evolve differently as the martensitic transformation takes place. In particular, around the Zn atoms, a lengthening of the atomic distances is observed only for premartensitic domain temperatures. The Cu K spectra evolve more gradually and an increase in the nearest-neighbour distances is observed during the whole transformation.