Factor VIII has been purified approximately 300000-fold from bovine plasma by ammonium sulfate fractionation, glycine precipitation, DEAE-Sephadex column chromatography, sulfate--Sepharose column chromatography, Sephadex G-200 gel filtration, and factor X--Sepharose column chromatography. The highly purified preparation migrated as a triplet on sodium dodecyl sulfate/urea--polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with apparent molecular weights of 93000, 88000, and 85000. The coagulant activity of the purified preparations was inhibited by antibodies raised in rabbits against either the purified factor VIII protein or a preparation of factor VIII/von Willebrand factor. Antibodies to the purified protein also inhibited the coagulant activity of factor VIII/von Willebrand factor preparations. The purified factor VIII contained no platelet-aggregating activity, as measured in human platelet-rich plasma. The purified preparation of factor VIII was required for the activation of factor X in the presence of factor IXa, calcium, and phospholipid. It was activated about 30-fold by thrombin or factor Xa plus calcium and phospholipid, and each of these reactions was accompanied by a change in the sodium dodecyl sulfate/urea--polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis pattern of the protein. Factor VIII was rapidly inactivated by bovine-activated protein C in a reaction requiring calcium and phospholipid. This reaction was also associated with a change in the sodium dodecyl sulfate/urea--polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis pattern of the highly purified protein. These experiments involving three highly specific serine proteases support the conclusion that the triplet observed on polyacrylamide gels is factor VIII.