Growth temperature effects on the microstructure of 2 at.-% Nb-doped BaTiO3 thin films are studied using x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Reciprocal space maps and electron diffraction patterns show that the a-axis lattice parameter increases and the c-axis parameter decreases with increasing growth temperature, indicating a decrease of tetragonality. Films grown at 800 °C are cubic at room temperature. Bright-field TEM images show low and high densities of threading defects in films grown at low and high temperatures, respectively. The observations are discussed in terms of a hindering of the cubic-to-tetragonal phase transition by a high defect density and a high unit cell volume.