| Year | Album details | Notes |
| 1979 | Music of Dane Rudhyar
| Their first release; includes two string quartets, "Advent" and "Crisis and Overcoming" |
| 1982 | In Formation Released: 1982 Label: Reference Format: LP; CD | "In imaging, transient accuracy and timbre, one of the finest string quartet discs ever issued." |
| 1985 | Released: 1985 Label: Landmark Format: LP, CD, MP3 | Compositions by Thelonious Monk. With Ron Carter. Re-released in 2005 as CD, on Savoy. Re-issued with Music of Bill Evans on 2CD as 32 Jazz: The Complete Landmark Sessions. |
| 1985 | Released: 1985 Label: Gramavision R2 79444 Format: 2LP, CD | Collaboration between composer Terry Riley and the Quartet. "Charming music that grows on one, in really committed performances." Rereleased on CD, August 1, 1992; rereleased on CD, January 31, 2006. |
| 1986 | Music of Bill Evans Released: 1986 Label: Landmark, Savoy Format: LP, CD | Compositions written by or associated with Bill Evans. With Jim Hall and Eddie Gómez. Leonard Feather gave the album five stars; Stephen Holden, for the New York Times, named it "Jazz Album of the Week." Reissued with Monk Suite on 2CD as 32 Jazz: The Complete Landmark Sessions. |
| 1986 | Kronos Quartet Released: August 15, 1986 Label: Nonesuch Format: LP, CD, MP3 | Music by Peter Sculthorpe, Aulis Sallinen, Philip Glass, Conlon Nancarrow, and an arrangement of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze." "The best recorded anthology yet to capture the heady diversity of musical idioms that this San Francisco quartet espouses." |
| 1987 | White Man Sleeps Released: July 15, 1987 Label: Nonesuch Format: LP, CD, MP3 | Ten compositions, by Kevin Volans and others. |
| 1988 | Winter Was Hard Released: September 30, 1988 Label: Nonesuch Format: LP, CD, MP3 | Music by Aulis Sallinen, Terry Riley, Arvo Pärt, Anton Webern, John Zorn, John Lurie, Ástor Piazzolla, Alfred Schnittke, and Samuel Barber. Listed at #11 in the Los Angeles Times Classical Top 25 of 1989. |
| 1989 | Steve Reich: Different Trains/Electric Counterpoint Released: March 3, 1989 Label: Nonesuch Format: LP, CD, MP3 | Two Steve Reich compositions. Kronos Quartet play tracks 1–3 ; Pat Metheny plays tracks 4–6. Different Trains written for the quartet. Listed at #16 in the Los Angeles Times Classical Top 25 of 1989. Reich won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Composition, with Kronos Quartet as performing artist. |
| 1989 | Released: October 27, 1989 Label: Nonesuch Format: 2LP, 2CD, MP3 | Collaboration between the composer and the quartet, nominated for a Grammy. |
| 1990 | Black Angels Released: June 29, 1990 Label: Nonesuch Format: LP, CD, MP3 | Includes George Crumb's Black Angels, the inspiration for David Harrington to found the Kronos Quartet. |
| 1991 | Released: January 25, 1991 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD single, MP3 | Compositions by Witold Lutosławski. "Integrates notated music with chance performance." |
| 1991 | Released: January 27, 1991 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD single, MP3 | Composition by South-African composer Kevin Volans, commissioned by the quartet. |
| 1991 | Five Tango Sensations Released: January 25, 1991 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | Written for the quartet by Ástor Piazzolla. Piazzolla's last studio recording. |
| 1991 | Released: May 28, 1991 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD | Two compositions by Polish composer Henryk Mikolaj Górecki. "Already It Is Dusk" played by Kronos Quartet; "Lerchenmusik" by the London Sinfonietta. |
| 1991 | Music of Claude Ballif Released: 1991 Label: Adda MFA 581283 Format: CD | Quatuor a cordes No. 3 |
| 1992 | Pieces of Africa Released: February 21, 1992 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | Music written for the quartet by seven African composers. Reached #1 in Billboards "Top World Albums", and spent 29 weeks on the chart. |
| 1993 | Short Stories Released: March 5, 1993 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | With Steven Mackey, Pran Nath, Krishma Bhatt, Terry Riley, and John Constant. |
| 1993 | Released: June 25, 1993 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | Two string quartets "rooted in Polish folk song." |
| 1993 | At the Grave of Richard Wagner Released: September 24, 1993 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | Works by Alban Berg and Anton Webern. With Aki Takahashi and Marcella DeCray. |
| 1993 | Released: September 24, 1993 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | One of Morton Feldman's final works, recorded with pianist Aki Takahashi. |
| 1993 | Released: October 22, 1993 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD single, MP3 | Composition by Bob Ostertag, condemning California governor Pete Wilson's veto of pro-gay legislation in 1991; proceeds for AIDS research. |
| 1994 | Night Prayers Released: September 2, 1994 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | Composers of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. With Throat Singers of Tuva, Dawn Upshaw, Djivan Gasparian, and Mikhail Alexandrovich. |
| 1995 | Kronos Quartet Performs Philip Glass Released: February 3, 1995 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | "An ideal combination of composer and performers." Reached #9 in Billboards "Top Classical Albums," and spent 12 weeks on the "Billboard Classical 50" chart. |
| 1996 | Howl, USA Released: May 31, 1996 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl set to music, and other Cold War pieces. With the voices of Allen Ginsberg, J. Edgar Hoover, and I.F. Stone. |
| 1997 | Osvaldo Golijov: The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind Released: March 14, 1997 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | Collaboration with Argentina-born Osvaldo Golijov. With David Krakauer. |
| 1997 | Released: March 14, 1997 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | Composition for strings and pipa by Tan Dun, performed by Kronos Quartet and Wu Man. |
| 1997 | Early Music Released: September 12, 1997 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | 21 compositions, from the 9th to the 20th century. Critic's Choice in The New York Times. |
| 1998 | Released: May 15, 1998 Label: Nonesuch Format: 2CD, MP3 | "Kronos can play like demons." |
| 1998 | John Adams: John's Book of Alleged Dances Released: April 21, 1998 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | Besides John's Book of Alleged Dances, also contains John Adams' Gnarly Buttons by the London Sinfonietta. |
| 2000 | Caravan Released: April 7, 2000 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | With Zakir Hussain, Taraf de Haïdouks, Kayhan Kalhor, Ziya Tabbassian, Ali Jihad Racy, Souhail Kaspar, and Martyn Jones. Music by ten different composers incl. Carlos Paredes. Reached #4 in Billboards "Top Classical Albums" and stayed on the chart for 15 weeks. |
| 2001 | Released: September 4, 2001 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | Written by Terry Riley in memory of Adam Harrington, David Harrington's son. Also includes "The Philosopher's Hand", piano improvisation by Riley. |
| 2001 | Released: October 16, 2001 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | With Dominic Frasca, Alan Pierson, and the Ossia ensemble. |
| 2002 | Nuevo Released: April 9, 2002 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | Music by Mexican composers: "A full-throttled celebration of the multitextured sounds of Mexico." Reached #8 in Billboards "Top Classical Crossover Albums" and stayed on the chart for 14 weeks. |
| 2003 | Pēteris Vasks: String Quartet No. 4 Released: August 19, 2003 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD single, MP3 | Written by Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks for the quartet; achieves "both feverish intensity and active rumination as the piece requires." |
| 2003 | Alban Berg: Lyric Suite Released: August 19, 2003 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD single, MP3 | Complete recording of Alban Berg's Lyric Suite. Grammy winner for Best Chamber Music Performance, 2004; proves "that the quartet is indeed the 'real thing,' an excellent, multifaceted classical ensemble." With restored setting of Baudelaire's poem "De profundis clamavi", sung by Dawn Upshaw, soprano. |
| 2003 | Harry Partch: U.S. Highball Released: August 19, 2003 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD single, MP3 | Ben Johnston's arrangement of Harry Partch's recollections. "Performed with pitch-perfect spirit." |
| 2005 | Mugam Sayagi: Music of Franghiz Ali-Zadeh Released: January 11, 2005 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | Four works by the Azerbaijani composer Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, three of which, "Apsheron Quintet", and "Mugam Sayagi" ) commissioned by the Quartet. Fourth track is Ali-Zadeh's "Music for Piano", which is performed by the composer, who also plays piano on "Apsheron Quintet." Reached #14 in Billboards "Top Classical Albums." |
| 2005 | You've Stolen My Heart: Songs From R.D. Burman's Bollywood with Asha Bhosle Released: August 23, 2005 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | Recorded with Bollywood playback singer Asha Bhosle; tribute to Rahul Dev Burman., nominated for 46th Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary World Music Album. |
| 2007 | Released: March 20, 2007 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | "Editor's Choice" for Strings magazine: "a solemn, spiritual, and revolutionary work." Entered at #6 in Billboards "Top Classical Albums" on March 30, 2007. |
| 2007 | Kronos Quartet Plays Sigur Rós Released: September 4, 2007 Label: Nonesuch Format: MP3 | Two "audience favorites": "Flugufrelsarinn" and "The Star-Spangled Banner". |
| 2008 | Released: February 4, 2008 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | *Written for the quartet, with Wu Man. Reached #3 in Billboard's "Top Classical Albums" and stayed on the chart for 10 weeks. |
| 2008 | Kronos plays Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen Released: 2008 Label: Dacapo #6.220548 Format: CD | Concerto Grosso, for string quartet and symphonic ensembleMoving Still, for baritone and string quartetString Quartet No. 9, Last Ground, for string quartet and ocean |
| 2009 | Floodplain Released: May 19, 2009 Label: Nonesuch Format: CD, MP3 | Music written or arranged for the quartet, "from cultures based in areas surrounded by water and prone to catastrophic flooding." Includes long piece by Serbian composer Aleksandra Vrebalov. |
| 2010 | Rainbow: Music of Central Asia Vol. 8Released: 2010Label: Smithsonian Folkways 40527Format: CD, MP3 | With Alim and Fargana Qasimov and Homayun Sakhi |
| 2011 | Uniko Released: February 1, 2011 Label: Ondine Format: CD, MP3 | Features Kronos Quartet, Finnish accordionist Kimmo Pohjonen and Samuli Kosminen. Seven-part suite for string quartet, accordion and live electronics composed by Pohjonen and Kosminen. |
| 2012 | Music of Vladimir Martynov Released: 2012 Label: Nonesuch #529776-2 Format: CD | The Beatitudes Schubert-Quintet , with special guest, Joan JeanrenaudDer Abschied |
| 2013 | Under 30 Project: 1-4Released: April 24, 2013Label: Digital only #KR 2013-01 | Part of the Kronos' "Under 30 Project", presenting the first four commissions by: Alexandra du Bois, Felipe Pérez Santiago, Dan Visconti, and Aviya Kopelman. |
| 2013 | Aheym - Music by Bryce DessnerReleased: November 5, 2013Label: Anti #87296-2 | |
| 2015 | Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector: Music of Terry RileyReleased: June 23, 2015Label: Nonesuch #549523 | Originally released as part of the 2015 compilation "One Earth, One People, One Love: Kronos Plays Terry Riley". |
| 2015 | Tundra SongsReleased: 2015Label: Centrediscs | Music by Derek Charke. Featuring Tanya Tagaq and Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory. |
| 2016 | Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen: Green Ground Released: 2016 Label: Dacapo #8.226153 Format: CD | Includes:
|
| 2016 | Alexandra Vrebalov: the Sea Ranch Songs
- Released: September 30, 2016
- Label: Cantaloupe Music #CA21122
| Video and animation by Andrew Lyndon, on bonus DVD. |
| 2017 | Folk SongsReleased June 9, 2017Label: Nonesuch #559151 | Featuring Sam Amidon, Olivia Chaney, Rhiannon Giddens, and Natalie Merchant. Originally performed for Nonesuch Records 50th anniversary in 2014. |
| 2017 | LadilikanReleased 2017Label: World Circuit #wcv093 | With Trio Da Kali. |
| 2018 | LandfallReleased 2018Label: Nonesuch #564164 | With Laurie Anderson. Winner of the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance. |
| 2018 | Clouded Yellow
- Released 2018
- Label: Cantaloupe Music #CA21140
| Compositions by Michael Gordon |
