Inheritance allows one class to inherit properties from another class. There are several benefits: it represents real-world relationships well, allows code reusability so the same code is not rewritten, and allows adding new features without modifying the original class. There are different forms of inheritance, including single inheritance where a child class inherits from one parent class, multiple inheritance where a child class can inherit from multiple parent classes, and multilevel inheritance where there can be child and grandchild class relationships.