Liquid phase epitaxial growth of thick magnetic garnet films and their magneto-optical applications are overviewed. The combination of material design and crystal growth processing - such as selection of garnet compositions, melt compositions, growth temperature, growth rate, and growth orientation - results in superior materials for use in magneto-optical applications. The phase relationship for obtaining garnet films as a primary phase, surface morphology change for thick garnet films, flux residue problems, Faraday rotation and its temperature coefficient, and optical absorption are discussed.