Skydiving is a type of parachuting performed for recreational purposes, also called sport parachuting. It is a sport of jumping from enough height to deploy a fabric parachute and land safely. It is played as a competitive sport, and also used as for the deployment of military personnel, airborne forces and occasionally for forest firefighters.

The history of parachuting is believed to start with Andre-Jacques Garnerin who made successful parachute jumps from a hot-air balloon in the year 1797. The military also developed parachuting technology primarily as a way to save aircrews from emergencies aboard balloons and aircraft, and used later as a way of delivering soldiers to the battlefield. Early competitions on skydiving date back to the 1930s and it became an international sport in 1951.