The Google File System (GFS) is a distributed file system designed to provide efficient, reliable access to data stored on commodity hardware. It consists of a single master node that manages metadata and chunk replication, and multiple chunkserver nodes that store file data in chunks. The master maintains metadata mapping files to variable-sized chunks, which are replicated across servers for fault tolerance. It performs tasks like chunk creation, rebalancing, and garbage collection to optimize storage usage and availability. Data flows linearly through servers to minimize latency. The system provides high throughput, incremental growth, and fault tolerance for Google's large-scale computing needs.