The BufferedReader is a Java class used for reading text from an input stream efficiently. It buffers characters to provide efficient reading of characters, arrays, and lines. By using a buffer, it reduces the number of I/O operations, which can improve performance when reading large amounts of data. Typically, a BufferedReader is used in conjunction with other classes, such as FileReader, to read data from files. It offers methods like `readLine()`, which reads a line of text, making it easier to process input line by line. This is particularly useful for applications that need to handle large files or streams of text.