Low-rank binary matrix approximation is a generic problem where one seeks a good approximation of a binary matrix by another binary matrix with some specific properties. A good approximation means that the difference between the two matrices in some matrix norm is small. The properties of the approximation binary matrix could be: a small number of different columns, a small binary rank or a small Boolean rank. Unfortunately, most variants of these problems are NP-hard. Due to this, we initiate the systematic algorithmic study of low-rank binary matrix approximation from the perspective of parameterized complexity. We show in which cases and under what conditions the problem is fixed-parameter tractable, admits a polynomial kernel and can be solved in parameterized subexponential time. © 2020, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media LLC, part of Springer Nature.