Abstract Metallic glass films are considered for coating applications in the nuclear field owing to their advantageous performances. However, the response to irradiation remains to be more thoroughly characterized. Zr 70 Ni 30 metallic glass films were irradiated by 0.71MeV/u 129 Xe 23+ ions in the fluence range from 5 × 10 12 to 8 × 10 13 ions cm −2 . The structural, morphological, and mechanical properties were determined using grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GI-XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and nanoindentation for the as-deposited and irradiated samples. The Xe ion induced surface smoothening, thereby increasing the corrosion resistance. One-dimensional power spectral density of the AFM data of irradiated film demonstrated that the irradiation-induced evolution of the surface morphology could be attributed to a transition between viscous flow and the evaporation-condensation mechanism. The amorphous structure was unaffected after irradiation up to a fluence of 8 × 10 13 ions cm −2 . Nanoindentation revealed first a softening as the fluence increases up to 4 × 10 13 ions cm −2 , reflecting the creation of free volume defects. Then the hardness and Young’s modulus slightly increase when reaching 8 × 10 13 ions cm −2 . Moreover, at a critical dose of 0.008 dpa, the hardness is found to increase. Moreover, the calculation of the inelastic thermal spike model reveals the formation of the track with a radius of 7 nm.