Microservices is an architectural style that structures an application as a collection of loosely coupled services. Each service is designed to perform a specific business function and can be developed, deployed, and scaled independently. This approach contrasts with traditional monolithic architectures, where all components are tightly integrated into a single codebase. Microservices promote flexibility, scalability, and faster development cycles by allowing teams to work on different services concurrently and choose the best technology stack for each service. They communicate with each other through well-defined APIs, typically using lightweight protocols like HTTP/REST or messaging queues.