Bitwise operations are techniques used in computer programming to manipulate individual bits within binary numbers. These operations include AND, OR, XOR, NOT, and bit shifts, allowing programmers to perform tasks like setting, clearing, or toggling specific bits. They are often used in low-level programming, data compression, and cryptography. In a bitwise operation, each bit of a number is treated independently. For example, the AND operation compares corresponding bits of two numbers and returns a new number where each bit is set to 1 only if both bits are 1. Understanding bitwise operations is essential for optimizing performance and memory usage in software development.