To provide a light-diffusing film having both satisfactory light-diffusing properties and satisfactory transmission sharpness and having a wide viewing angle and high front contrast and generating no white blur when applied to a liquid crystal display device, to provide a manufacturing method therefor, to provide a light diffusing polarizing plate using the same and to provide a liquid crystal display device.

The light light-diffusing film has a light-diffusing layer 102 which is laminated on the substrate film 101 and in which light-transmitting microparticles 104 are diffused, wherein the ratio of the intensity of laser light transmitted from the light-diffusing layer side, in a direction 40° off the normal direction, to the intensity of laser light incident upon the light-diffusing film from the substrate film side in the normal direction and having a wavelength of 543.5 nm, is 0.0002-0.001%, the transmission sharpness summed over four optical combs is 70-180%, the total haze and internal haze levels are 40-70%, the surface haze level due to the surface geometry of the light-diffusing layer is less than 2%, and the centerline average roughness of the surface of the light-diffusing layer is ≤0.2 μm.