The study aimed to evaluate the in vitro antioxidant activity of medium chain fatty acid (MCFA) rich-rice bran oils in comparison with native rice bran oil. Different in vitro methods were used to evaluate the free radical scavenging activity, metal chelation activity, reducing acitivity, ABTS radical scavenging activity, thiobarbituric acid (TBA) value and so on at different concentrations of the oils such as 10–100 μg/mL. Inhibition of lipid peroxidation was evaluated measuring thiobarbituric acid responsive substance (TBARS) and conjugated diene formation. All the oils showed potent antioxidant activity at 100 μg/mL concentration. TBARS formation and conjugated diene formation was lower with MCFA rich oils i.e. the inhibition of lipid peroxidation was more in MCFA rich oils than original rice bran oil. Caprylic acid rich rice bran oil showed maximum antioxidant activity in comparison to capric- and lauric acid rich rice bran oils. Overall the MCFA rich rice bran oils showed to be more potent antioxidant than rice bran oil due to their lower unsaturated fatty acid content. © 2014, Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India).