  We study the j-invariant of the canonical lifting of an elliptic curve as a
Witt vector. We prove that its Witt coordinates lie in an open affine subset of
the j-line and deduce the existence of a universal formula for the j-invariant
of the canonical lifting. The canonical lifting of the elliptic curves with
j-invariant 0 and 1728 over any characteristic are also explicitly found.
