Rabbi Moshe Sofer (Schreiber), known as the Chatam Sofer after his works, was born in Frankfurt am Main on 7 Tishrei 5523 (24 September 1762) to Shmuel and Reizel. His forebears were scribes (soferim), hence the family name; on his father's side he descended from the author of the Yalkut Shimoni and from Rashi. The name Chatam Sofer can also be read as an acronym of "Chiddushei Torat Moshe Sofer".

At six he studied with Rabbi Meshulam Zalman Chasid, and at nine he entered the yeshiva of Rabbi Nathan Adler, who became his principal teacher and almost a father to him. He also studied with Rabbi Pinchas Horowitz, author of the Haflaah, and with Rabbi David Tevele Scheuer in Mainz, who also taught him mathematics and astronomy.

In 1786 he followed his teacher to Prossnitz, where he married Sarah Malka and headed the yeshiva. He became rabbi of Dresnitz in Moravia in 1794 and of Mattersdorf in 1798. In 1806 he was appointed rabbi of Pressburg (Bratislava), the most important community in Hungary, where his yeshiva grew to as many as five hundred students; he served there for thirty-three years, until his passing. Widowed in 1812, he married Sorel, daughter of Rabbi Akiva Eiger, the mother of all his children, among them the Ksav Sofer.

He was one of the foremost opponents of the Reform movement, summing up his stance in the phrase "Chadash asur min haTorah" ("the new is forbidden by the Torah"). He also had a deep love for the Land of Israel and encouraged its settlement.

He left about a hundred manuscripts. His published works include Chiddushei Chatam Sofer on the Talmud, the Chatam Sofer responsa in seven volumes (1,225 responsa), Torat Moshe on the Torah, his Derashot, and an ethical will, Tzava'at Moshe.

He passed away on 25 Tishrei 5600 (3 October 1839) in Pressburg. An ohel was built over his grave, which was saved during the Second World War through the efforts of Moshe Aryeh Leib Wottitz; it now lies in an underground memorial in Bratislava and remains a place of pilgrimage.