He studied musical composition under the court organist, Mann, and became one of the most learned and skillful contrapuntists of his age. After being employed as organist at Raab and Maria-Taferl, he was appointed in 1772 organist to the court of Vienna, and in 1792 Kapellmeister of St. Stephen's cathedral.
His fame as a theorist attracted to him in the Austrian capital a large number of pupils, some of whom afterwards became eminent musicians. Among these were Beethoven, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Ignaz Moscheles and Josef Weigl (1766-1846).
Albrechtsberger died in Vienna.
His published compositions consist of preludes, fugues and sonatas for the piano and organ, string quartets, etc.; but the greater proportion of his works, vocal and instrumental, exists only in manuscript. They are in the library of the Vienna Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde.
Probably the most valuable service he rendered to music was in his theoretical Works. In 1790 he published at Leipzig a treatise on composition, of which a third edition appeared in 1821. A collection of his writings on harmony, in three volumes, was published under the care of his pupil Ignaz von Seyfried (1776-1841) in 1826. An English version of this was published by Novello in 1855.