Containers provide a way to run multiple applications on a single server through isolation and virtualization. This solves problems of inefficient resource usage when running each app on its own server, as well as dependency conflicts between apps. Containers make deployment and scaling easier through their lightweight and self-contained nature, which can be automated using orchestration tools. Docker is a platform that uses containers to package and run applications. Images define the content of a container, and multiple containers can be run from a single image. Containers are isolated from each other but can communicate through defined channels.