AWS RDS provides a managed database service for provisioning, operating, and scaling MySQL databases in the cloud. It handles tasks like installation, patching, backups, replication, and failover that would otherwise need to be manually configured and managed when using unmanaged MySQL on EC2. RDS also provides high performance through features like automated striping across EBS volumes and ability to provision thousands of IOPS. It allows scaling for read-heavy workloads through creation of read replicas and offers point-in-time recovery of backups retained for up to 35 days.