The possibility of YAG:Ce3+ coatings phosphor formation by reactive magnetron deposition during sputtering of metal targets in an atmosphere of argon and oxygen activated by a radio-frequency source of inductively coupled plasma has been studied. The installation consists of three middle-frequency magnetrons with Y, Al and Ce targets with power of 1000, 1570 and 150 W, respectively. The (Y–Al–O):Ce coatings were deposited in metal and oxide sputtering modes of yttrium and aluminium targets. The coating deposition rate on the planetary rotating substrates in the metallic sputtering mode reaches of 0.67 nm/s. This is about an order of magnitude higher compared to the oxide sputtering mode and the method of radio-frequency magnetron sputtering of ceramic targets commonly used to deposit such coatings.Characterization of the elemental and phase composition of the coatings showed the YAG:Ce crystal structure formation during annealing both in air at 1100 °C and in a nitrogen atmosphere at 1200 °C. Cathodo- and photoluminescent spectroscopy was used for study of YAG:Ce thin films emission properties. The emission properties of YAG:Ce correspond to the radiation transition in Ce3+ ions. It was found that the intensity of both types of luminescence turned out to be slightly higher for samples annealed in air. It enhanced with increasing coating thickness in the considered range from 1.8 to 7.0 μm. The suggested approach could be potentially used for luminescent coatings formation with high level of the emission properties.