The women's 49 kg competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics was held on 17 August, at the Carioca Arena 3.

Chinese defending champion Wu Jingyu lost to the silver medalist Tijana Bogdanović in the quarterfinal, unable to win her third Olympic gold.

Instead, South Korea's Kim So-hui finished first, beating Panipak Wongpattanakit from Thailand in the process.

The main bracket consisted of a single elimination tournament, culminating in the gold medal match.

Each semifinal loser faced the last remaining repechage competitor from the opposite half of the bracket in a bronze medal match.