axis oriented YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 (YBCO) thin films for coated conductor applications have anisotropic behaviors of critical current density ( ) in magnetic fields. The anisotropic vortex pinning in YBCO films fabricated on SrTiO 3 (100) single crystal substrates by pulsed laser deposition was investigated based on the field angular dependencies of , which were measured using the constant Lorentz force configuration (CLFC) and a variable Lorentz force configuration (VLFC).( ) as a function of angle between the -plane direction and the magnetic field direction had a sharp peak at = 0 , which was attributed to the intrinsic pinning. Besides, ( ) did not depend on the intensity of the Lorentz force when the magnetic field was applied near = 90 . This indicates that ( ) in this region is determined by the depinning of the vortex segment trapped by the pinning centers parallel to -axis of the film. A transition from the intrinsic pinning to the extrinsic pinning is also discussed.Index Terms-Critical current density, Lorentz force, vortex pinning, YBCO thin film.