PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate for an optical film, an optical film, a polarizing plate, a liquid crystal panel and an image display device, in which interference fringes and degradation in picture qualities are hardly recognized by human eyes.SOLUTION: According to one embodiment, a substrate 20 for an optical film is provided to be used for an optical film 10, with one surface of the substrate adjoining to a first functional layer 30 that constitutes a part of the optical film 10. The substrate 20 for an optical film has a rugged surface 20A as the surface at the first functional layer 30 side, and satisfies relationships represented by &thetas;a>tan(0.0013/n) and &thetas;max