the ylang-ylang (cananga odorata) essential oil is valued for its medicinal and cosmetic benefits. this study compared the volatile compounds and antioxidant capacity of six essential oils from c. odorata flowers obtained industrially by steam distillation. the volatiles were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (gc/ms). the ferric reducing antioxidant power (frap), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (dpph) radical scavenging activity, and total phenolic content (tpc) were measured by ultraviolet-visible (uv-vis) spectrophotometry. the main components included benzyl acetate (21.78-27.82%), benzyl benzoate (12.30-18.07%), linalool (9.45-14.39%), and germacrene d (9.17-14.46%). the highest antioxidant values were shown by the sample s6 (206.50 +/- 7.45 mmol te/l, 52.03 +/- 0.88 mg gae/g), followed by s5. the multivariate analysis separated s6 and s5 from the remaining essential oils, suggesting that extraction was more influenced by the steam flow rate. notably, the antioxidant capacity of s6 revealed a positive correlation between volatiles and tpc values. these findings denote the importance of improving empirical industrial procedures.