Pressure burst tests gave measured tensile strengths between 230 and 410 MPa for a total of six chemical‐vapor‐deposited (CVD) diamond disks in both transparent ‘‘white’’ and opaque ‘‘black’’ forms obtained from three different sources. The disks were nominally 0.635 cm in diameter and 254 &mgr;m thick. These strengths are explained by a theoretical model using a Young’s modulus of 1.05×106MPa and a fracture surface energy of 5.3 J/m2, appropriate for natural diamond, and with critical crack lengths between 33 and 105 &mgr;m. The latter lengths can fit, either on or inside, the tapered columnar crystal grains that grow vertically in synthetic CVD diamond films. The model is consistent with the observed inverse dependence of measured tensile strength on film thickness and with tensile strengths between 180 and 5190 MPa reported by other workers for synthetic CVD diamond. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.