Objective: The purpose of the study was to investigate the antibacterial mechanical properties of PLA nanofiber film loaded with PAE and its preservation effect on chilled mutton. Methods: By loading different amount (0, 12.5, 25, 50, 100 μL/20 mL) of electrospinning solution perillaldehyde (PAE) in polylactic acid (PLA) matrix, the antibacterial nanofiber film packaging with certain water absorption properties was prepared through electrospinning technology. The appearance and mechanical properties of PAE-PLA packaging film and physical-chemical indexes of mutton during preservation were analyzed via scanning electron microscopy and electronic universal testing machine. Results: With the increase of loading amount of PAE amount, the diameter, breaking elongation and tensile strength of PAE-PLA nanofiber films increased first and then decreased, which indicated that the addition of PAE can change the surface charge density of electrospinning solution. Therefore, the diameter of nanofibers was affected, and thereby the breaking elongation and tensile strength of nanofiber packaging films were changed. When the added PAE concentration was 50 μL/20 mL of electrospinning solution, the PAE-PLA nanofiber films showed uniform distribution, a largest diameter (370 nm) with good mechanical properties, i.e., elongation at break of 68.72% and tensile strength of 1.80 MPa. After 12 days of storage, the total bacterial count and volatile salt nitrogen of mutton packaged with PLA membrane loaded with 50 μL PAE were 5.52 lg(CFU/g) and 12.55 mg/100 g, respectively, which are significantly lower than the critical values of fresh meat and spoilage meat [6.0 lg(CFU/g) and 15.00 mg/100 g] (P＜0.05). Conclusion: PAE-PLA film loaded with 50 μL /20 mL PAE solution has good mechanical properties and antibacterial properties.