Waxes are mainly consumed industrially as components of complex formulations, often for coatings. The main use of polyethylene and polypropylene waxes is in the formulation of colourants for plastics. Waxes confer matting effects (i.e., to confer non-glossy finishes) and wear resistance to paints. Polyethylene waxes are incorporated into inks in the form of dispersions to decrease friction. They are employed as release agents, find use as slip agents in furniture, and confer corrosion resistance.
Waxes such as paraffin wax or beeswax, and hard fats such as tallow are used to make candles, used for lighting and decoration. Another fuel type used in candle manufacturing includes soy. Soy wax is made by the hydrogenation process using soybean oil.
Waxes are used as finishes and coatings for wood products. Beeswax is frequently used as a lubricant on drawer slides where wood to wood contact occurs.
Sealing wax was used to close important documents in the Middle Ages. Wax tablets were used as writing surfaces. There were different types of wax in the Middle Ages, namely four kinds of wax (Ragusan, Montenegro, Byzantine, and Bulgarian), "ordinary" waxes from Spain, Poland, and Riga, unrefined waxes and colored waxes (red, white, and green). Waxes are used to make waxed paper, impregnating and coating paper and card to waterproof it or make it resistant to staining, or to modify its surface properties. Waxes are also used in shoe polishes, wood polishes, and automotive polishes, as mold release agents in mold making, as a coating for many cheeses, and to waterproof leather and fabric. Wax has been used since antiquity as a temporary, removable model in lost-wax casting of gold, silver and other materials.

Wax with colorful pigments added has been used as a medium in encaustic painting, and is used today in the manufacture of crayons, china markers and colored pencils. Carbon paper, used for making duplicate typewritten documents was coated with carbon black suspended in wax, typically montan wax, but has largely been superseded by photocopiers and computer printers. In another context, lipstick and mascara are blends of various fats and waxes colored with pigments, and both beeswax and lanolin are used in other cosmetics. Ski wax is used in skiing and snowboarding. Also, the sports of surfing and skateboarding often use wax to enhance the performance.

Some waxes are considered food-safe and are used to coat wooden cutting boards and other items that come into contact with food. Beeswax or coloured synthetic wax is used to decorate Easter eggs in Romania, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and the Czech Republic. Paraffin wax is used in making chocolate covered sweets.

Wax is also used in wax bullets, which are used as simulation aids, and for wax sculpturing.

• Beeswax – produced by honey bees
• Chinese wax – produced by the scale insect Ceroplastes ceriferus
• Lanolin (wool wax) – from the sebaceous glands of sheep
• Shellac wax – from the lac insect Kerria lacca
• Spermaceti – from the head cavities and blubber of the sperm whale
• Bayberry wax – from the surface wax of the fruits of the bayberry shrub, Myrica faya
• Candelilla wax – from the Mexican shrubs Euphorbia cerifera and Euphorbia antisyphilitica
• Carnauba wax – from the leaves of the carnauba palm, Copernicia cerifera
• Castor wax – catalytically hydrogenated castor oil
• Esparto wax – a byproduct of making paper from esparto grass (Macrochloa tenacissima)
• Japan wax – a vegetable triglyceride (not a true wax), from the berries of Rhus and Toxicodendron species
• Jojoba oil – a liquid wax ester, from the seed of Simmondsia chinensis.
• Ouricury wax – from the Brazilian feather palm, Syagrus coronata.
• Rice bran wax – obtained from rice bran (Oryza sativa)
• Soy wax – from soybean oil
• Tallow tree wax – from the seeds of the tallow tree Triadica sebifera.
• Ceresin waxes
• Montan wax – extracted from lignite and brown coal
• Ozocerite – found in lignite beds
• Peat waxes
• Paraffin wax – made of long-chain alkane hydrocarbons
• Microcrystalline wax – with very fine crystalline structure