A cross-sectional TEM study of the defect structure in CdTe buffer layers grown on 2°-off (001) GaAs substrates by MOVPE is presented. The nature and distribution of defects in the buffer layers are shown to be highly anisotropic. Images obtained with the beam direction parallel to [110] show that high densities of stacking faults are present on one of the two equivalent (111} planes, whereas those obtained with the beam direction parallel to [110] show subgrain boundaries perpendicular to the interface. HREM images of the interfacial region along these two directions show a pronounced difference in the character of the misfit dislocations with b = a/2 <110>. Those with line directions parallel to [110] are all edge (90°) dislocations whilst the orthogonal set are an intimate mixture of edge and mixed character (60°) dislocations. This anisotropy is attributed to the combined effects of substrate off-cut and the formation of high aspect ratio island nuclei, giving differences in misfit accommodation.