The paper studies current spreading, light emission, and heat transfer in high-power flip-chip light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and their effect on the chip thermal resistance by experimental and theoretical approaches. The thermal resistance was measured using two methods: by monitoring the transient response of the LED operation voltage to the temperature variation with the Transient Tester T3Ster and by temperature mapping with the use of an infrared thermal-imaging microscope. The near field of the electroluminescence intensity was recorded with an optical microscope and a CCD camera. Three-dimensional numerical simulation of the current spreading and heat transfer in the LED chip was carried out using the SimuLED package in order to interpret the obtained experimental results.