Abstract It is important to control magnetic anisotropy of ferromagnetic materials. In this work, magnetic anisotropy of amorphous FeCoSiB films is controlled by stress annealing. FeCoSiB films are deposited on glass substrate and annealed with stress in vacuum. When the annealed films are released from clamp, permanent tensile or compressive strain can be introduced in the films. Influences of both tensile and compressive strain on the magnetic properties of FeCoSiB films have been studied. The results show that FeCoSiB films by stress annealing exhibit strong magnetic anisotropy while the samples by normal annealing exhibit magnetic isotropy. Easy axis along the stress is induced in the films with tensile stress, while easy axis perpendicular to the stress is induced in the samples with compressive stress. It has also been found that the magnetic anisotropy increases with the increase of the strain. The effects of strain on the magnetic properties of FeCoSiB films have been interpreted by stress induced anisotropy via magnetoelastic coupling.