XML, or eXtensible Markup Language, is a markup language that provides rules for defining and sharing data in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. It is a software- and hardware-independent tool for storing and transporting data, similar to HTML but without predefined tags. XML files contain tags that define the structure and metadata of the data, and they end with the file extension ".xml"
. XML is commonly used for data exchange between computer systems, such as websites, databases, and third-party applications. Its standardized format allows data to be easily shared and parsed across different systems and platforms, locally and over the internet. XML itself does not perform any actions with the data; it simply stores it in a structured format, and other software is used to send, receive, store, or display the data
. In summary, XML is a versatile language for storing and sharing data in a standardized, platform-independent format, making it a widely used tool for data exchange and storage.