The acoustic attenuation of shear and longitudinal waves propagating along thecaxis in LiTaO3has been measured from 1 to 9 GHz. Measurements were made from 4° to 300°K using the microwave pulse‐echo technique and at 300°K using optical Bragg diffraction. The shear‐ and longitudinal‐wave attenuation in LiTaO3at 300°K was found to be similar to that of LiNbO3. However, the change in shear‐wave attenuation between 4° and 300°K is much smaller in LiTaO3than in LiNbO3.