A piston ring is formed over the entire surface with a gas nitrided layer. A diamond-like carbon film is formed in a thickness of 0.5 to 30 micrometers over the gas nitrided layer at the upper and lower surfaces. The diamond-like carbon film has a surface structure in which diamond-like carbon has been deposited in nodular shapes in sizes of 0.5 to 5 micrometers. The diamond-like carbon is configured with any one of an amorphous carbon structure, an amorphous carbon structure having partly a diamond structure, or an amorphous carbon structure having partly a graphite structure.