Approximately 7 1/2 months of stratospheric ozone profiles have been processed from the Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere (LIMS) experiment on NIMBUS 7. Data profiles cover the the strastophere and mesosphre from 100 to 0.1 mbar and from 84¿N to 64¿S latitude. The retrieved ozone profiles are not constrained in any way to an initial guess profile or to an ozone climatology. This paper describes the ozone channel characteristics, precision, systematic uncertainties, and comparisons with data from balloon and rocket underflights, Umkehr soundings, and Dobson measurements. Comparisons with Dobson total ozone are made by integrating combined LIMS plus balloon profiles. The estimated on-orit precision is 0.02--0.17 ppmv. Simulations of the experiment indicate potential systematic uncertainties ranging from 15% in the 1-mbar to the 3-mbar region to an upper limit of 40% at 100 mbar and 0.1 mbar. Comparisons with sets of correlative ozone profiles shown mean differences of less than 10% from 7 to 50 mbar for mid-latitude balloon-borne sensors and 16% from 0.3 to 50 mbar for rocket data. Such results are well within the uncertainties for the correlative sensors themselves. Agreement with balloon measurements degrades somewhat at tropical latitudes in the lower stratosphere. LIMS detects significant vertical structure in the ozone profile even below the ozone mixing ratio peak. Preliminary comparisons with Umkehr data at four stations show generally good agreement from 1 to 30 mbar. The zonal mean ozone cross section for March 1979 compares well with ozone climatologies reported by Dutsch (1974) and with more recent data obtained for a similar time of year using satellite instruments operating at the much different ultraviolet and visible wavelengths. When taken together with the other LIMS parameter (temperature, H2O, NHO3, and NO2), this new ozone data set can be used to study middle atmospheric processes.