Two new techniques for the preparation of thin films of chromium telluride on glass substrates are described. The ferromagnetic properties of the films are discussed briefly, and the results of an ellipsometric determination of the basic complex optical and magneto-optical constants, n and Q, in the visible region of the spectrum are presented. The values obtained for the constants are used to evaluate the merit of the material as a magneto-optical storage medium by calculating the signal-to-noise ratios associated with various simple readout systems. The results are then compared with those obtained by carrying out identical calculations for the intermetallic compound manganese-bismuth.