Paul Joseph Dresher (born January 8, 1951, in Los Angeles) is an American composer. Dresher received his B.A. in music from the University of California, Berkeley and his M.A. in composition from the University of California, San Diego, where he studied with Robert Erickson, Roger Reynolds, Pauline Oliveros, and Bernard Rands.

He also studied Ghanaian drumming with C. K. and Kobla Ladzekpo, Hindustani classical music with Krishna Bhatt and Nikhil Banerjee, and Balinese and Javanese music.

Dresher's music has been variously described as minimalist and postminimalist. Dresher himself, poking fun at the latter term (which he perceives as fairly meaningless), has referred to himself as a "pre-maximalist," hence the name of his record label, MinMax.

Dresher served on the board of directors for the American Music Center from 1994 through 2000.

Recordings of Dresher's works are available on the Lovely Music, New World, CRI, Music and Arts, O.O. Discs, BMG/Catalyst, MinMax, Starkland, and New Albion labels.

He was the recipient of a 2006 Guggenheim fellowship.

With his Paul Dresher Ensemble, Dresher plays such newly built instruments as the Quadrachord (2000) and Hurdy Grande (2008).