Apache Kafka is a distributed event streaming platform used for building real-time data pipelines and streaming applications. It allows users to publish, subscribe, store, and process streams of records in a fault-tolerant, scalable, and high-performance manner. Kafka is commonly used for logging, monitoring, and data integration across systems. It works through a distributed cluster of brokers, which ensures data availability and reliability. Kafka's ability to handle high-throughput data streams makes it ideal for applications requiring low-latency data processing. It is widely adopted in industries like finance, telecommunications, and e-commerce.