Apache Kafka is an open-source distributed event streaming platform designed for high-throughput data pipelines. It enables real-time data processing and communication between applications using publish-subscribe messaging. Kafka is widely used for building event-driven architectures, log aggregation, and real-time analytics. Its ability to handle massive volumes of data with low latency makes it ideal for use cases like IoT, financial systems, and fraud detection. Kafka integrates seamlessly with tools like Spark and Hadoop for advanced analytics.