An apparatus for quantifying residual stress of a birefringent material comprises a light source generating light; a vertical polarizer converting a beam of light into a beam with vertical polarization; a standard material being mounted in front of the vertical polarizer; a horizontal polarizer converting a beam of light into a beam with horizontal polarization; an applied force unit applying different forces to the standard material; a spectrometer being mounted in front of the horizontal polarizer and recording intensity of light passing through the horizontal polarizer and transmittance of the standard material and a processing module being connected to the spectrometer, deriving a stress formula from the applied forces and transmittances of the standard material and obtaining a stress distribution of the birefringent material. A method for quantifying residual stress of a birefringent material is also disclosed.