Web storage allows data to be stored locally within the user's browser. This provides benefits like improved performance, reduced server load, and enabling offline applications. The history of client-side storage included HTTP cookies, userData behavior in IE5.5, Flash local shared objects, and Google Gears. HTML5 web storage defines the localStorage and sessionStorage APIs, which allow storing key-value pairs locally within the browser. Web storage addresses limitations of cookies like size and leaking sessions. While it provides advantages over cookies, web storage also has limitations like storage quotas and lack of cross-site scripting protection.