Record types allow you to associate different business processes and subset of pick list value to different users based on their user profile. They are used to drive which page layouts users see when viewing records, based on their user profile.
It is an tool provided by Salesforce which helps you to configure different business processes, assign page layouts, and pick-list values. It can be linked to user profiles.
Hi,
Record type provide different type of layout which is choosed according to bussiness requirment. It provides different picklist value , different lookup.