The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of materials and sizes of files on canal transportation in a curved canal. The stress and the strain energy of files of two kinds of materials (stainless steel and NiTi) and five sizes (No. 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40) in a curved canal were analyzed by a finite element program, NASTRAN. Curved canals in transparent resin blocks were instrumented with the 10 kinds of files, and the degree of canal transportation obtained by double exposure technique of photography was compared with the analysis by the finite element method. The results were as follows : 1. The stress of a file in a curved canal increased from the file body to the file tip. 2. The stress of a stainless steel file was about 2.5 times greater than that of a same-sized NiTi file. 3. The stress distributions of files of an identical material were the same, and the strain energies of files of an identical material increased as the size of files increased. 4. The strain energy of a No. 35 NiTi file was about the same as that of a No. 20 stainless steel file. 5. The degree of canal transportation by a stainless steel file was greater than that by a same-sized NiTi file. The degree of canal transportation generally increased as the size of a file increased. 6. The degree of canal transportation of a No. 35 NiTi file was about the same as that of a No. 20 stainless steel file.