The electrocaloric effect in lead-free BaTi 1Àx Sn x O 3 (BTSn, x ¼ 0.08, 0.105, and 0.14) ferroelectric ceramics was studied by using an indirect method. It was found that the largest electrocaloric response could be achieved in BTSn with x ¼ x QP ¼ 0.105 near room temperature with an adiabatic temperature change DT of 0.61 K and an electrocaloric strength DT=DE of 0.31 K mm kV À1 , under a modest electric field DE of 20 kV cm À1 , which is comparable with the best values reported in lead-free materials. These enhanced values are attributed to the multiphase (four phases) coexistence at x ¼ x QP corresponding to the quasi-quadruple point composition. V C 2014 AIP Publishing LLC. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4895615] There has been a recent upsurge in research on electro-caloric (EC) materials since the discovery of giant EC effect in PbZr 0.95 Ti 0.05 O 3 thin films in 2006. 1 The EC effect, defined as the reversible adiabatic temperature change and/or isothermal entropy change of a dielectric material upon the application or removal of an external electric field, may find promising applications in realizing innovatively eco-friendly cooling devices. 1–5 To achieve high EC performances near room temperature (RT), the use of phase transitions is revealed to be a powerful tool since the largest EC effect usually occurs near the phase transition. In addition, in order to tune the properties of EC materials, various approaches have been proposed, which include, but are not restricted to, tailoring the thickness of an EC film, 1,6–9 doping, 10 changing the anisotropy/texture of the material, 11 applying a stress field 12,13 or a hydrostatic pressure, 14 improving the material capability to enhance the electrical breakdown strength,