A driver, or device driver, is a software component that allows the operating system and a device to communicate with each other. It is a set of files that tells a piece of hardware how to function by communicating with a computers operating system. Drivers are hardware dependent and operating-system-specific, and they usually provide the interrupt handling required for any necessary asynchronous time-dependent hardware interface. The main purpose of device drivers is to provide abstraction by acting as a translator between a hardware device and the applications or operating systems that use it.

Each piece of hardware has its own drivers, and usually, drivers are written by the hardware manufacturers. Some hardware may not work at all without a driver, while others may only offer basic functions. Therefore, it is important to keep drivers updated to ensure that the hardware is functioning correctly and to take advantage of new features and security patches.

The term "driver" has been used in computer science for a long time, and its origin is not specific to computer science. According to a post on English Language & Usage Stack Exchange, a driver (or driver circuit), an electronic circuit used to control another circuit or component, is an old concept.