The remarkable physical and chemical qualities of bitumen are exploited in road construction, which is its chief use, and in a number of applications in civil engineering and industry which principally make use of its impermeability for waterproofing roofs, terasses, basins, ponds and tanks.

Hydrocarbon binders can be divided into three types: natural binders, tars and bitumens. The USIRF (the Grouping of French Road Industry Unions) has recommended that the use of tar be discontinued.

Nowadays, bitumens are almost exclusively obtained from the processing of crude oil, of which they are the most dense and viscous fraction.