Currently, many publications report on the electrocaloric effect and its application for cooling devices. This work focusses now on the prospects of using ceramic thin films in electrocaloric cooling. We introduce the electrocaloric effect and examine electrical properties, mechanical boundary conditions as well as the film microstructure affecting electrocaloric activity. Further, multilayer ceramic capacitors are introduced as a promising device concept for electrocaloric refrigeration, and limitations of the related heat transfer in electrocaloric devices will be discussed. Finally, ceramic thin films and bulk ceramics are compared with regard to electrocaloric cooling.