The bile ducts are part of the digestive system. The bile ducts are all the bile ducts. Bile is a yellow-green liquid that helps the body digest fat. The bile ducts are tubes that carry bile from the liver to the duodenum (the first part of the small intestine).

The bile canaliculi give rise to Herring's ducts, the origin of the bile ducts, and then to the intrahepatic bile ducts giving the right and left hepatic ducts which join outside the liver to form the common hepatic duct. The latter joins with the cystic duct to form the common bile duct which terminates in the duodenum via the ampulla of Vater and the sphincter of Oddi.

A distinction is made between intrahepatic and extrahepatic bile ducts, which are formed by a primary and an accessory bile duct.

The gallbladder is a storage reservoir where bile accumulates between meals and is concentrated by reabsorbing 90% of its water. The outlet is the cystic duct which joins the common hepatic duct to form the common bile duct.