The strain induced magnetic and anisotropic variations of LaCoO3 thin films

•The emergence of ferromagnetic state can be observed in LCO thin films irrespective of the tensile or compressive strain applied.•The easy magnetic axis of LCO films from in-plane to out-of-plane orientation can be adjusted by changing the strain from tensile to compressive.•The exact percentage of Co2+ ions in different LCO films deviated from 12.8% to 10.6% as the strain changed from tensile to compressive.