Levulinyl cellulose esters have been produced as an effective renewable binder for architectural coatings. The title compound, C7H10O4 (systematic name: 2-methyl-5-oxo-tetra-hydro-furan-2-yl acetate), assigned as the esterifying species, was isolated and crystallized to confirm the structure. In the crystal, the mol-ecules pack in layers parallel to (102) utilizing weak C-H⋯O inter-actions.