A hydraulic press is a machine which uses a hydraulic cylinder to generate a compressive force. It can be understood as any machine using hydraulic pressure to compress anything. Hydraulic press are replacing mechanical press all over as a mechanical press can only develop full force at close to bottom of stroke whereas a hydraulic press has the ability to deliver full pressing force anywhere in the range of stroke. This significantly improves the overall performance of a hydraulic press.

The hydraulic industry can be credited with significantly impacting and changing the face of human machinery forever. A lot of machine based important tasks would not have been possible with out them. From bulldozers to forklifts many such machines are powered by hydraulic presses to perform their day to day task.