High quality epitaxial La 1− x Sr x MnO 3 films were deposited by pulsed injection metal organic chemical vapor deposition, using as precursor materials metal-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptandionates dissolved in monoglyme. The influence of various deposition conditions, substrate material and film thickness on film properties was investigated. The best films were deposited on LaAlO 3 substrates at 825 °C: films exhibited a sharp semiconductor–metal transition and high magnetoresistance (∼40%) at a close-to-room temperature and in a rather low field of 1.5 T. In-situ or ex-situ high-temperature annealing in oxygen increased the temperature of semiconductor–metal transition, but decreased the magnetoresistance and the temperature coefficient of resistance. Biaxial strain imposed by the lattices’ mismatch was clearly observed in thinner La 1− x Sr x MnO 3 films on perovskite substrates. Tensile strain was present in the films on SrTiO 3 and compressive strain in the films on LaAlO 3 (and less clearly on NdGaO 3). Both tensile and compressive strains decreased the temperature of electric transition and the values of magnetoresistance. The strain was completely relaxed in the films more than ∼100 nm thick.