Weber was born in Eutin, Holstein. He was initially taught by his father who was also a musician and who founded a theatre company in Hamburg in 1787. After Weber's mother died of tuberculosis in 1798 Weber, aged 12, went to Salzburg to study with Michael Haydn and then to Munich where he studied with the singe rJohann Evangelist Wallishauser, and organist J. N. Kalcher.Weber published his first work in 1798, 6 fughettas for piano.

In 1800 Weber, then 14 years old, wrote an opera called Das stumme Waldmädchen (The silent forest maiden), which was produced at the Freiberg theatre. It was later performed in Vienna, Prague, and St. Petersburg. Weber also began to write articles as a critic, e.g. in the Leipziger Neue Zeitung (1801).

In 1801 Weber resumed his studies with Michael Haydn. He later continued studying in Vienna with Abbé Vogler (Georg Joseph Vogler), founder of three important music schools (in Mannheim, Stockholm, and Darmstadt); another famous pupil of Vogler was Giacomo Meyerbeer, who became a close friend of Weber.

In 1803, Weber's opera, Peter Schmoll und seine Nachbarn (Peter Schmoll and his Neighbors) was produced in Augsburg, and gave Weber his first success as a popular composer.

Vogler, impressed by his pupil's talent, recommended him to the post of Director at the Opera in Breslau (1806), and from 1807 to 1810, Weber held a post at the court of the Duke of Württemberg, in Stuttgart.

In 1810, Weber visited several cities throughout Germany; from 1813 to 1816 he was director of the Opera in Prague; from 1816 to 1817 he worked in Berlin, and from 1817 onwards he was director of the prestigious Opera in Dresden, working hard to establish a German Opera, in reaction to the Italian Opera which had dominated the European music scene since the 18th century. On 4 November 1817, he married Caroline Brandt, a singer who created the title role of Silvana.

The successful premiere of Der Freischütz on 18 June 1821 in Berlin led to performances all over Europe. On the very morning of the premiere, Weber finished his Konzertstück for Piano and Orchestra in F minor, and he premiered it a week later.

In 1823, Weber composed the opera Euryanthe to a mediocre libretto, but containing much rich music, the overture of which in particular anticipatesRichard Wagner. In 1824, Weber received an invitation from Covent Garden, London, to compose and produce Oberon, based on Christoph Martin Wieland's poem of the same name. Weber accepted the invitation, and in 1826 he travelled to England, to finish the work and conduct the premiere on 12 April.

Other famous works by Weber include: Invitation to the Dance (later orchestrated by Hector Berlioz); Polacca Brillante (later orchestrated by Franz Liszt); two symphonies, a concertino and two concertos for clarinet, a quintet for clarinet and strings, and a concertino for horn (during which the performer is asked to simultaneously produce two notes by humming while playing - a technique known in brass playing as multiphonics).

Weber was already suffering from tuberculosis when he visited London; he died at the house of Sir George Thomas Smart during the night of 4-5 June 1826.Weber was 39 years old. He was buried in London, but 18 years later his remains were transferred on an initiative of Richard Wagner and re-buried in Dresden.

His unfinished opera Die drei Pintos ('The Three Pintos') was originally given by Weber's widow to Meyerbeer for completion; it was eventually completed by Gustav Mahler, who conducted the first performance in this form in Leipzig on 20 January 1888.