Encapsulation in Python is a fundamental concept of object-oriented programming (OOP) that involves bundling data and methods that operate on that data within a single unit, typically a class. This approach restricts direct access to some of the object’s components, which is essential for protecting the internal state of an object and ensuring that it can only be modified through well-defined methods.

The primary benefits of encapsulation include information hiding, which prevents external code from inadvertently modifying an object’s internal state, and improved modularity, making the code easier to maintain and refactor. By using encapsulation, developers can change the internal implementation of a class without affecting the code that uses it, thus promoting code reusability and reducing dependencies between different parts of a codebase ¹²³.

In Python, encapsulation is typically implemented using public and private attributes. Public attributes can be accessed from outside the class, while private attributes are prefixed with an underscore and are intended to be accessed only within the class itself ³⁴.