X-ray diffraction is used extensively to determine the residual stress in bulk or thin film materials on the assumptions that the material is composed of fine crystals with random orientation and the stress state is biaxial and homogeneous through the x-ray penetrating region. The stress is calculated from the gradient of ε~ sin2 ψ linear relation. But the method cannot be used in textured films due to nonlinear relation. In this paper, a novel method is proposed for measuring the multiaxial stresses in cubic films with any [hkl] fibre texture. As an example, a detailed analysis is given for measuring three-dimensional stresses in FCC films with [111] fibre texture.