In this study, we present a method of nonlinear identification and optimal feedforward friction compensation for an industrial single degree of freedom motion platform. The platform has precise reference tracking requirements while suffering from nonlinear dynamic effects, such as friction and backlash in the driveline. To eliminate nonlinear dynamic effects and achieve precise reference tracking, we first identified the nonlinear dynamics of the platform using Higher Order Sinusoidal Input Describing Function (HOSIDF) based system identification. Next, we present optimal feedforward compensation design to improve reference tracking performance. We modeled the friction using the Stribeck model and identified its parameters through a procedure including a special reference signal and the Nelder–Mead algorithm. Our results show that the RMS trajectory tracking error decreased from 0.0431 deg/s to 0.0117 deg/s when the proposed nonlinear identification and friction compensation method is utilized.