We compare the recombination dynamics of GaN single crystals to that of epitaxial cubic GaN layers on GaAs(001) using picosecond photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. At low temperatures, the band-edge PL decay time of the layer is much shorter than that of the crystals, evidencing the importance of nonradiative processes in the case of the layer. However, at room temperature both the emission spectra and their decay times of layer and crystals are almost identical. At 300 K the decay times are short (10 ps) for low excitation density and increase to values of 100 ps at moderate excitation density reflecting the saturation of nonradiative recombination channels. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.