Folding schemes are a family of SNARKs for iterative computations, allowing to prove that a function $F$ applied $n$ times to an initial input $z_0$ results in $z_n$.
A folding scheme is a protocol that can help build incrementally verifiable computation (IVC). This is particularly interesting in the case of iterative computations. An IVC allows to prove that a function $F$ applied $n$ times to an initial input $z_0$ results in $z_n$.