The filmmaker, who has more than 50 films to his credit, was best known for writing and directing The Unfaithful Wife and The Butcher and This Man Must Die.
Chabrol was a famed member of the French New Wave movement and a Cannes Palme d'Or-nominated director.
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said: "With the death of Claude Chabrol, French cinema has lost one of its maestros."
Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Fremaux added: "Claude Chabrol is part of our national patrimony - for his films and also for his personality."
The director's final movie Bellamy, starring Gerard Depardieu, was released in 2009.
Chabrol was married three times and is survived by his four children.
