High-temperature superconducting YBa2Cu3O7-x (YBCO) thin films were deposited on GaAs substrates by laser ablation. A double-buffer layer of yttrium-stabilized ZrO2 (YSZ)/Si3N4 was used to nucleate YBCO but also to prevent the degradation of the GaAs during YBCO film deposition. Superconducting YBCO thin films with a highly c-axis orientation perpendicular to the substrate surface, zero-resistance temperature of 85.5 K, and critical current density of 1.9 X 10(3) and 1.3 X 10(4) A/cm2 at 77 and 50 K, respectively, have been achieved in our experiments. These values are believed to be the best results reported so far for YBCO on GaAs.