The men's 50-metre freestyle event at the 1992 Summer Olympics took place on 30 July at the Piscines Bernat Picornell in Barcelona, Spain.

[1] Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

The following records were established during the competition: The competition consisted of two rounds: heats and finals.

The swimmers with the best 8 times in the heats advanced to final A, where they competed for the top 8 places.

The swimmers with the next 8 times in the heats swam in final B, for ninth through the sixteenth place.