The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of feed restriction on the slaughter performance of rabbit, and antioxidant activity, chemical composition, physical characteristics, amino acid, fatty acid, and volatile compound contents of rabbit meat. A total of 48 male rabbits with similar body weights were randomly allocated into two equal treatment groups: the control group, which received ad libitum access to the feed (AL), and the treatment group, which received 80% of the feed consumed by the control (FR). The results indicated that there were no significant differences in the slaughter performance parameters between the two groups (P > 0.05). Compared with the AL treatment, the FR treatment significantly increased muscle superoxide dismutase activity, 1,1-diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity, and crude protein content (P < 0.05), whereas it significantly decreased the content of malondialdehyde, water loss rate, and shear force (P < 0.05). Compared with those in the AL treatment group, the rabbits in the FR treatment group presented significantly greater levels of threonine, glutamate, alanine, tyrosine, histidine, proline, and total amino acids (P < 0.05). Moreover, the AL treatment resulted in significantly greater concentrations of C16:0, C16:1, C18:1 n-9c, and monounsaturated fatty acids (P < 0.05), whereas it resulted in significantly lower levels of C18:2 n-6c, C20:4 n-6, and polyunsaturated fatty acids than the FR treatment did (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the FR treatment resulted in significantly greater levels of benzaldehyde, octanal, decanal, hexadecane, carbamodithioic acid diethyl-methyl ester, 2-heptanone, N-ethyl-ethanamine, dimethyl sulfone, and N,N-diethyl-formamide than did the AL treatment (P < 0.05). Overall, mild feed restriction can increase meat quality by increasing muscle antioxidant activity and improving the physical characteristics, amino acid, fatty acid, and volatile compound contents of rabbits under the conditions of this experiment.