Malassezia (M.) furfur is an anthropophilic fungus with complex growth requirements. Apart from its physiological appearance on human skin it is the causative agent of several skin disorders. A method for in vitro antifungal susceptibility testing of M. furfur in a microtiter plate assay has been developed. Read-out was performed colorimetrically in modified Leeming-Notman medium after incubation with alamarBlue. Twenty-two strains of M. furfur were tested, minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined for climbazole, piroctone-olamine, selenium disulfide, zinc pyrithione. These substances are of common use in topical therapy of M. furfur-associated skin conditions. For climbazole, the range of MICs was between < 0.03 and 2 micrograms/ml with an empirical median mean of 0.03 micrograms/ml. For piroctoneolamine the range of MICs was between 16 and 64 micrograms/ml (mean = 64 micrograms/ml), for selenium disulfide between 2 and 64 micrograms/ml (mean = 8 micrograms/ml), and for zinc pyrithione between 0.12 and 8 micrograms/ml (mean = 1 micrograms/ml). These data indicate the high in vitro activity of climbazole against M. furfur, followed by zinc pyrithione. Selenium disulfide and piroctone-olamine were less active.