Loop unrolling is an optimization technique used in programming to improve the performance of loops. By increasing the number of operations performed in each iteration, it reduces the overhead of loop control, such as incrementing counters and checking conditions. This can lead to fewer iterations and better use of CPU resources. For example, instead of executing a loop that processes one element at a time, a programmer might modify it to process multiple elements in a single iteration. This can enhance the efficiency of the code, especially in scenarios involving large datasets or intensive computations, such as those found in graphics processing or scientific simulations.