Static linking is a process in software development where all the necessary libraries and code are combined into a single executable file during the build process. This means that when a program is run, it does not need to rely on external files or libraries, as everything it needs is included within the executable itself. One advantage of static linking is that it can lead to faster execution since there are no additional files to load at runtime. However, it can also result in larger file sizes, as the entire codebase is bundled together, which may not be ideal for all applications.