Currently, the Full Notch Creep Test (FNCT) method is used by material suppliers and end users in industry for the approval of container and pipe materials based on high-density polyethylene (PE-HD). The resistance to environmental stress cracking (ESC) of the material is evaluated using time to failure of the specimen in an aqueous solution of a detergent. Usually specimens made of sheets with isotropic material properties, manufactured by hot pressing, are employed to obtain intrinsic properties of the material in terms of ESC failure. In contrast, the processes used in manufacturing to form containers and pipes, such as extrusion blow molding or extrusion, impose anisotropic properties to the material. These are mostly due to a microstructural orientation (polymer chains or crystallites). The most important factor is whether primarily intramolecular high-strength covalent bonds or the substantially weaker intermolecular van der Waals forces are predominantly loaded. Furthermore, the different cooling conditions significantly affect the size distribution of crystallites as well as the overall morphology. It is therefore essential to understand the influence of process-induced material characteristics on failure due to ESC. In addition to the widely established classification by time to failure, the strain or crack opening displacement (COD) provides valuable information about the evolution and progression of damage as a function of time. Optical strain measurement using digital image correlation allows the differences in COD for isotropic and different angles of orientation of anisotropic specimens to be discussed. Also, a post-fracture surface analysis provides clarification on the craze-crack mechanism of the ESC. These different ESC-related properties of extruded and hot-pressed specimens have been investigated at different environmental medium temperatures and different initial stresses to provide a broad characterization of the fracture behavior of PE-HD.