We show that the angular dependence of x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) is strongly sensitive to strain-induced electronic structure changes in magnetic transition metal oxides. We observe a pronounced dependence of the XMCD spectral shape on the experimental geometry as well as nonvanishing XMCD with distinct spectral features in transverse geometry in compressively strained MnCr(2)O(4) films. The angular dependent XMCD can be described as a sum over an isotropic and anisotropic contribution, the latter linearly proportional to the axial distortion due to strain. The XMCD spectra are well reproduced by atomic multiplet calculations.