Abstract: Objective To compare the dosimetric difference between Rapid Arc and fixed gantry dynamic intensity modulated radiation therapy（IMRT） for upper esophageal cancer. Methods For ten cervical esophageal cancer cases， dIMRT plan（five fixed-fields）and Rapid Arc plan were generated by Varian Eclipse 8.6 treatment planning systerm. Dose volume histograms were adopted for the statistics of D2， D98， conformal index（CI）， homogeneity index（HI） of GTV and PTV， dose volumetric parameters of normal tissues，lung and spinal cord， total accelerator output monitor units and total treatment time. Results When Rapid Arc compared to dIMRT， there were significant differences in D₂，D₉₈，V₁₀₀， CI and HI of GTV（P＜0.05）， and there were only significant differences in D₂， CI and HI of PTV（P＜0.05）. Rapid Arc had more advantages in GTV and PTV. The D₁ of spinal cord was（3644.15±72.89）cGy for Rapid Arc and（3810.69±97.51）cGy for dIMRT（P＜0.05）.The V₂₀ and mean dose of lung were（13.65±2.19）％，（893.95±102.43）cGy for Rapid Arc and（15.14±1.24）％，（882.86±120.67）cGy for dIMRT（P＞0.05）. The number of monitor units were 482±36 and 763±89 in Rapid Arc and dIMRT; the treatment time were （102±19）s and （336±41）s. Conclusion Compared to the dIMRT， Rapid Arc showes similar or better effects in the target dose distribution， it has the advantages in less monitor units and less total treatment time， it reduces the irradiation doses on oragans at risk better. Moreover， it gets better HI and CI.