A fiber having an environmental barrier coating is provided that includes, in one illustrative form, a Hi Nicalon preform assembled in a tooling for chemical vapor infiltration and cleaned to remove sizing char from fibers of the Hi Nicalon preform; a ytterbium doped silicon carbide coat located over the Hi Nicalon preform; a boron nitride interface coat applied over the ytterbium doped silicon carbide coat; and a silicon carbide coat applied over the boron nitride interface coat. In another embodiment the fiber has an environmental barrier coating, comprising: a Hi Nicalon S fiber; wherein the Hi Nicalon S fiber is coated in tow form with yttrium doped silicon carbide; and a silicon doped boron nitride coat applied over the yttrium doped silicon carbide. In a third embodiment the fiber has an environmental barrier coating, comprising: a T-300 carbon fiber preform assembled in tooling for chemical vapor infiltration; alternating layers of silicon carbide and boron carbide are applied over the preform; and a silicon doped boron nitride interface coat applied over the silicon carbide coat.