Rolf Alfred Stein (13 June 1911 – 9 October 1999) was a German-born French Sinologist and Tibetologist.
He contributed in particular to the study of the Epic of King Gesar, on which he wrote two books, and the use of Chinese sources in Tibetan history.
He obtained degrees from l'École nationale des langues orientales vivantes in Chinese (1934) and Japanese (1936).
Stein spent the Second World War in French Indo-China, working as a translator and where he was taken prisoner by the Japanese.
Among Stein's most notable students were Anne-Marie Blondeau, Ariane Macdonald-Spanien, Samten Karmay, Yamaguchi Zuiho, and Yoshiro Imaeda.