Mule transformers strictly enforce the types of incoming and outgoing data by default, but can be configured to relax this by ignoring invalid input and returning the original message. Transformers can change the payload type, format, or message properties. Mule provides many built-in transformers across its core and modules that support common transformations, and transports may include additional transformers. The "ignoreBadInput" and "returnClass" attributes allow configuring how invalid input is handled and enforcing the expected output type.