What is a package in Java?

A package is a namespace that organizes related classes and interfaces together, similar to folders in a file system. Packages serve two purposes: they prevent naming conflicts (two classes can have the same name if they are in different packages) and they provide access control (package-private classes are only accessible within the same package). Declare a package with package com.example.myapp; at the top of a source file. Import classes from other packages with import java.util.List;. Java has built-in packages like java.util, java.io, and java.lang (automatically imported).