Results on molecular beam epitaxy-grown microcavity light-emitting diodes with InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells and a hybrid top mirror are presented. An external quantum efficiency of 14.8&percent; is achieved for a 400 &mgr;m diam light-emitting diode. The strong influence of the spectral overlap between the spontaneous emission spectrum and the cavity resonance mode on the radiation pattern is shown. The angular emission profile is compared with model predictions for different detunings, and a very good agreement is obtained when the asymmetric spectral broadening of the intrinsic spontaneous emission is taken into account. ©1998 American Institute of Physics.