Objective To study the ratcheting behavior of defective cartilage under cyclic compressive loading, so as to explore the pattern of damage evolution for defective articular cartilage. Methods Fresh articular cartilage was obtained from the distal femur of adult porcine, and the cartilage samples with different depth of defect were applied under triangular wave cyclic loading with different parameters. Combined with non-contact digital image technology, the ratcheting strain at different layers of cartilage was obtained. Results With the increase of loading cycles numbers, the ratcheting strain at each layer of cartilage increased sharply at first, then increased slowly and tended to be stable, and the ratcheting strain decreased gradually from shallow layer to deep layer. The response of each layer to cycle number was different. The strain in shallow layer increased rapidly within 50 cycles, while the strain in middle layer increased rapidly within 100 cycles and the strain in deep layer increased rapidly within 75 cycles. The ratcheting strain in shallow and deep layers was positively correlated with the stress amplitude and defect depth, and negatively correlated with the loading rate, while hysteresis response occurreds in middle layer. Conclusions The ratcheting behavior of cartilage was affected by special structure of the cartilage. The defect caused the strain increasing in each layer of cartilage, which could easily result in the aggravation of damage. The experiment results provide references for the construction of tissue-engineered cartilage.