We report phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes with a substantially improved light outcoupling efficiency and a wider angular distribution through applying a layer of zinc oxide periodic nanopillar arrays by pattern replication in non-wetting templates technique. The devices exhibited the peak emission intensity at an emission angle of 40° compared to 0° for reference device using bare ITO-glass. The best device showed a peak luminance efficiency of 95.5 ± 1.5 cd/A at 0° emission (external quantum efficiency - EQE of 38.5 ± 0.1%, power efficiency of 127 ± 1 lm/W), compared to that of the reference device, which has a peak luminance efficiency of 68.0 ± 1.4 cd/A (EQE of 22.0 ± 0.1%, power efficiency of 72 ± 1 lm/W). © 2013 American Institute of Physics.