An N-ary tree is a type of data structure in computer science where each node can have up to N children. This means that instead of just having two children like in a binary tree, an N-ary tree can branch out into multiple paths, making it useful for representing hierarchical data. For example, a file system can be modeled as an N-ary tree, where each folder can contain multiple files and subfolders. N-ary trees are often used in various applications, such as XML parsing, game development, and database management. They provide a flexible way to organize data, allowing for efficient traversal and manipulation. The structure is particularly beneficial when the number of children per node is not fixed, accommodating a wide range of scenarios.