Abstract This paper reports a film-cooling effectiveness experiment on a turbine blade platform that combines two film hole shapes with three layouts. A linear cascade using the pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) technique was employed to measure the adiabatic film effectiveness and discharge coefficients. Three film hole layouts, including two double-row layouts and one dispersed layout, were designed based on the platform configurations. One double-row layout arranges both rows of holes on the pressure side. Another double-row layout arranges one row on the pressure side and one row on the suction side. The dispersed layout was designed with streamwise multirows using the same number of holes. A fan-shaped hole and a diffusion slot hole were tested and compared. The experiments were conducted at a mainstream Reynolds number of 7 × 105, a mainstream turbulence intensity of 3.6%, and a coolant-to-mainstream density ratio of 1.5. The blowing ratio ranged from 0.5 to 2.5. The results demonstrated that regardless of the hole shape, the dispersed layout performed better than the two double-row layouts. However, the effects of the layout on the film effectiveness and discharge coefficients are smaller for the diffusion slot hole. In the three layouts, the film effectiveness of the diffusion slot holes is remarkably greater than that of the fan-shaped holes, and the superiority increases as the blowing ratio increases. In contrast, the superiority of the diffusion slot hole in double-row layouts surpasses that of a dispersed layout.