The water polo tournaments took place at the Tatsumi Water Polo Centre in the south of Tokyo.
There were 12 men and 10 women teams, an increase of two teams for the women, who advanced via various qualifying tournaments, such as World League, World Championships, Continental Championships, and also special qualifying tournaments. The host Japan also received spots in the tournament.
The format of the water polo tournaments remained unchanged from the previous games. Two preliminary groups of round-robins were followed by playoffs starting with quarter-finals. Both defending Olympic champion, USA (woman) and Serbia (man) managed to retain their titles.