Disclosed is an optical material including a cyclic olefin copolymer containing at least a repeating structural unit [A] represented by the general formula (1) and a repeating structural unit [B] represented by the general formula (2) and having a molar ratio [A]/[B] of from 95/5 to 1/99, wherein the absolute value of the ratio ΔOB/ΔF is from 0.001 to 0.250 in which ΔOB represents the amount of a change in the absolute value of the orientation birefringence calculated from the phase difference (nm) at a wavelength of 633 nm/film thickness (μm) in a stretched film obtained from the optical material, and ΔF represents the amount of a change in the absolute value of the orientation coefficient determined from the dichroic ratio of parallel light intensity I∥ to perpendicular light intensity I⊥, each relative to the orientation direction according to Raman spectroscopy.