An applet is a Java program that runs within a web browser. Applets are embedded in HTML pages and run in a sandbox that prevents them from accessing the local computer's file system for security reasons. When writing an applet, you extend the JApplet class and override certain methods like init(), start(), stop(), destroy(), and paint() that are called at different points in the applet's lifecycle by the browser. The paint() method is used for any drawing or graphics output from the applet.