The species can range up to 3,000 m in parts of its range, which extends into the Himalayas along river valleys. It occurs in a broad spectrum of habitats, from tropical rainforest to temperate broadleaf and, marginally, coniferous forest, as well as shrub forest and successional grasslands. The northern boundaries of its range are limited by snow cover; the leopard cat avoids areas where snow is more than 10 cm deep. It is not found in the cold steppe grasslands, and generally does not occur in arid zones, although there are a few records from relatively dry and treeless areas in Pakistan. Leopard cats occur commonly in dense secondary growth, including logged areas, and have been found in agricultural and forest (rubber tree, oil palm, sugarcane) plantations. The species can live close to rural settlements. Leopard cats are excellent swimmers, and have successfully colonized offshore islands throughout their range (Nowell and Jackson 1996; Sunquist and Sunquist 2002).

In the most comprehensive study, based on a large sample size of 20 radio-collared cats in Thailand's Phu Khieu Wildlife Sanctuary, mean home range size (95% MCP) was 12.7 km², larger than in other areas of Thailand (4.5 km²) (Grassman et al. 2005), on Borneo (3.5 km²: Rajaratnam 2000), or on Japan's Iriomote island (Schmidt et al. 2003). There was no significant difference between male and female home range size. Open and closed forest habitats were used in proportion to their occurrence, and activity patterns showed crepuscular and nocturnal peaks. On Borneo, Rajaratnam et al. (2007) found that leopard cats hunted rodents in oil palm plantations, and used forest fragments for resting and breeding. Murids dominate the diet (85-90%: Grassman et al. 2005b, Rajaratnam et al. 2007). Other small mamals, eels and fish have also been reported, as well as occasional scavenging of carrion (Nowell and Jackson 1996).