We have investigated the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) of a perovskite oxide, BaFeO3, that shows ferromagnetism by the aid of a small external field of similar to 3 kOe (3.5 mu(B)/Fe, T-C = 111K). The magnetization is found to change almost reversibly in both field and temperature cycles. Hence, magnetic and thermal hysteretic losses are negligibly low during refrigeration, a property that is suitable for application. The reversible MCE is likely to arise from the absence of an orbital magnetic moment of Fe ions which are essentially in the Fe3+(L) under bar state ((L) under bar: ligand hole). The magnetic entropy change and refrigerant capacity near the T-C are similar to 5.8 J kg(-1) K-1 and similar to 172 J kg(-1), respectively, both of which are comparable to those of ferromagnetic perovskite manganites. As BaFeO3 contains no rare metals and is stable against corrosion, the material can be regarded as a candidate refrigerant material. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.