HttpURLConnection is a class in Java that allows developers to send and receive data over the internet using the HTTP protocol. It provides methods to configure the connection, set request headers, and read responses from a server. This class is part of the java.net package and is commonly used for making web requests in Java applications. To use HttpURLConnection, a developer typically creates a URL object, opens a connection, and then specifies the request method (like GET or POST). After sending the request, they can retrieve the server's response, which can include data such as HTML, JSON, or XML, depending on the application’s needs.