BufReader and BufWriter wrap readers/writers with an in-memory buffer, reducing system calls. For example, reading a file line-by-line with BufReader::new(file).lines() is much faster than unbuffered reads. I use them for parsing large files, log processing, and network I/O. BufWriter batches writes, which is crucial for performance when writing many small chunks. Always flush or drop BufWriter to ensure data is written. The standard library's I/O traits (Read, Write) make it easy to compose buffering with other I/O adapters. Buffering is a simple but huge performance win for I/O-heavy code.