The history of sperm cryopreservation dates back to 1776, when Lazaro Spallanzani, an Italian priest and physiologist, first reported that sperm activity could be preserved by freezing in snow. However, it was not until 1866 that Montegazza proposed “to allow the use of sperm previously frozen at home by soldiers killed in battle to obtain legal heirs”. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, many studies found that sperm could be cryopreserved at temperatures below -321F (-160C). Prior to the advent of cryoprotectants (e.g., glycerol), sperm survival after resuscitation had been relatively low. When cryoprotectants were discovered, sperm freezing technology developed rapidly in the field of animal breeding. The fertilization rate of bovine semen after cryo-resuscitation was about 65%. In 1953, the first case of pregnancy obtained using frozen human sperm was reported. It was done by freezing the sperm using dry ice (-78C). The resuscitated sperm fertilized the egg and eventually resulted in a normal zygote. The technique of human sperm freezing is technically practicable. However, the ethical and legal controversies arising from artificial insemination kept the use of the technique on hold until 1963, when the 11th International Congress of Genetics broke the above restrictions and attention was drawn to the establishment of human sperm banks. A new sperm freezing technique was developed in 1963. This method involves vaporizing sperm with liquid nitrogen and then storing them at -196C. Subsequently, it was reported that normal zygotes could be obtained using this method, and after 1953, the freezing technique was continuously optimized, making it possible to establish sperm banks that met the standards for clinical use. Since the establishment of sperm banks, healthy babies have been reported from all over the world. In the 1970s, sperm banks grew even larger and the use of donor sperm or husband/partner sperm for assisted conception by means of artificial insemination became more widespread. In the last three decades, sperm banking has been further improved and developed. The freezing of sperm in liquid nitrogen (-384F/196C) has become routine and the use of cryoprotectants has become more widespread. These improvements resulted in the following benefits: (1) optimized pH and osmolality for sperm freezing; (2) provided energy to the sperm and reduced the consumption of intracellular phospholipids; (3) antibiotics were added to the system to prevent bacterial contamination; and (4) diluted the sperm and prevented the reduction of sperm viability due to high sperm density. The commercialization of cryoprotectants and the use of programmed cooling devices have made sperm freezing a highly standardized and reproducible practical technique. The development of assisted reproductive technologies has driven the development of sperm banking. The single-sperm intracytoplasmic injection technique allows offspring to be obtained from men who have only a few inactive live sperm. It is even possible to use sperm removed from the testes in combination with an egg to obtain offspring. These techniques have enriched the range of applications of sperm banking.