Big data refers to extremely large data sets that are too large to be processed with traditional data processing tools. It is data that is growing exponentially over time. Examples include terabytes of new stock exchange data daily and petabytes of new data uploaded to Facebook each day from photos, videos, and messages. Big data comes in structured, unstructured, and semi-structured forms. It is characterized by its volume, variety, and velocity. Big data analytics uses specialized tools to analyze these huge datasets to discover useful patterns and information that can help organizations understand the data. Tools for big data analytics include Hadoop, Lumify, Elasticsearch, and MongoDB. Big data has applications in banking, media, healthcare, manufacturing, government, and other