The Short Answer
Luxury vinyl plank (LVP) is a multi-layer synthetic flooring product with a rigid or flexible core, a photographic layer with realistic wood or stone imagery, and a protective wear layer. Unlike older vinyl sheet or tile products, modern LVP is waterproof throughout, extremely durable, and visually convincing. Key quality differentiators: wear layer thickness (12-22 mil commercial wear layer vs 6-8 mil residential), core type (SPC — stone polymer composite — is more rigid and dent-resistant than WPC — wood polymer composite), and attached underlayment quality.