An optical pickup apparatus for detecting a symmetric S-shaped signal to obtain a focus-error signal by an SSD method for stability in operation is provided. In an optical pickup apparatus for irradiating laser light onto an optical recording medium and for directing the light reflected from at least the optical recording medium to a light-receiving device section through a diffraction element to detect a focus-error signal by a spot size detection method using diffracted light caused by the diffraction element, the position of the light-receiving device section is set to the position offset closer to the diffraction element from the focal position of the 0 order light passing through the diffraction element.