diff --git a/ci/travis_script_python.sh b/ci/travis_script_python.sh
index 202c24f0a58..6b095b878e5 100755
--- a/ci/travis_script_python.sh
+++ b/ci/travis_script_python.sh
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ if [ "$ARROW_TRAVIS_PYTHON_DOCS" == "1" ]; then
   doxygen
   popd
   cd ../docs
-  sphinx-build -q -b html -d _build/doctrees -W source _build/html
+  sphinx-build -q -b html -d _build/doctrees -W --keep-going source _build/html
 fi
 
 popd  # $ARROW_PYTHON_DIR
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/filesystem/filesystem.h b/cpp/src/arrow/filesystem/filesystem.h
index 6e24db03dfe..3d42dbc3631 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/filesystem/filesystem.h
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/filesystem/filesystem.h
@@ -58,14 +58,16 @@ using TimePoint =
 
 /// \brief EXPERIMENTAL: FileSystem entry type
 enum class ARROW_EXPORT FileType : int8_t {
-  // Target does not exist
+  /// Entry does not exist
   NonExistent,
-  // Target exists but its type is unknown (could be a special file such
-  // as a Unix socket or character device, or Windows NUL / CON / ...)
+  /// Entry exists but its type is unknown
+  ///
+  /// This can designate a special file such as a Unix socket or character
+  /// device, or Windows NUL / CON / ...
   Unknown,
-  // Target is a regular file
+  /// Entry is a regular file
   File,
-  // Target is a directory
+  /// Entry is a directory
   Directory
 };
 
@@ -84,26 +86,27 @@ struct ARROW_EXPORT FileStats {
   FileStats(const FileStats&) = default;
   FileStats& operator=(const FileStats&) = default;
 
-  // The file type.
+  /// The file type
   FileType type() const { return type_; }
   void set_type(FileType type) { type_ = type; }
 
-  // The full file path in the filesystem.
+  /// The full file path in the filesystem
   std::string path() const { return path_; }
   void set_path(const std::string& path) { path_ = path; }
 
-  // The file base name (component after the last directory separator).
+  /// The file base name (component after the last directory separator)
   std::string base_name() const;
 
-  // The size in bytes, if available.  Only regular files are guaranteed
-  // to have a size.
+  /// The size in bytes, if available
+  ///
+  /// Only regular files are guaranteed to have a size.
   int64_t size() const { return size_; }
   void set_size(int64_t size) { size_ = size; }
 
-  // The file extension
+  /// The file extension (excluding the dot)
   std::string extension() const;
 
-  // The time of last modification, if available.
+  /// The time of last modification, if available
   TimePoint mtime() const { return mtime_; }
   void set_mtime(TimePoint mtime) { mtime_ = mtime; }
 
@@ -228,7 +231,9 @@ class ARROW_EXPORT SubTreeFileSystem : public FileSystem {
                              std::shared_ptr<FileSystem> base_fs);
   ~SubTreeFileSystem() override;
 
+  /// \cond FALSE
   using FileSystem::GetTargetStats;
+  /// \endcond
   Status GetTargetStats(const std::string& path, FileStats* out) override;
   Status GetTargetStats(const Selector& select, std::vector<FileStats>* out) override;
 
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/filesystem/localfs.h b/cpp/src/arrow/filesystem/localfs.h
index 73e35206d71..57da283b036 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/filesystem/localfs.h
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/filesystem/localfs.h
@@ -29,14 +29,18 @@ namespace fs {
 /// \brief EXPERIMENTAL: a FileSystem implementation accessing files
 /// on the local machine.
 ///
-/// Details such as symlinks are abstracted away (symlinks are always followed,
-/// except when deleting an entry).
+/// This class handles only `/`-separated paths.  If desired, conversion
+/// from Windows backslash-separated paths should be done by the caller.
+/// Details such as symlinks are abstracted away (symlinks are always
+/// followed, except when deleting an entry).
 class ARROW_EXPORT LocalFileSystem : public FileSystem {
  public:
   LocalFileSystem();
   ~LocalFileSystem() override;
 
+  /// \cond FALSE
   using FileSystem::GetTargetStats;
+  /// \endcond
   Status GetTargetStats(const std::string& path, FileStats* out) override;
   Status GetTargetStats(const Selector& select, std::vector<FileStats>* out) override;
 
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/filesystem/s3fs.h b/cpp/src/arrow/filesystem/s3fs.h
index c02c4c15402..8dd3d87f8ff 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/filesystem/s3fs.h
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/filesystem/s3fs.h
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ namespace fs {
 
 extern ARROW_EXPORT const char* kS3DefaultRegion;
 
-/// Options for the S3 FileSystem implementation.
+/// Options for the S3FileSystem implementation.
 struct ARROW_EXPORT S3Options {
   /// AWS region to connect to (default "us-east-1")
   std::string region = kS3DefaultRegion;
@@ -79,7 +79,9 @@ class ARROW_EXPORT S3FileSystem : public FileSystem {
  public:
   ~S3FileSystem() override;
 
+  /// \cond FALSE
   using FileSystem::GetTargetStats;
+  /// \endcond
   Status GetTargetStats(const std::string& path, FileStats* out) override;
   Status GetTargetStats(const Selector& select, std::vector<FileStats>* out) override;
 
@@ -120,6 +122,7 @@ class ARROW_EXPORT S3FileSystem : public FileSystem {
   Status OpenAppendStream(const std::string& path,
                           std::shared_ptr<io::OutputStream>* out) override;
 
+  /// Create a S3FileSystem instance from the given options.
   static Status Make(const S3Options& options, std::shared_ptr<S3FileSystem>* out);
 
  protected:
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/io/file.h b/cpp/src/arrow/io/file.h
index 10b6e8f6c73..59653947742 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/io/file.h
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/io/file.h
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ class Status;
 
 namespace io {
 
+/// \brief An operating system file open in write-only mode.
 class ARROW_EXPORT FileOutputStream : public OutputStream {
  public:
   ~FileOutputStream() override;
@@ -95,8 +96,9 @@ class ARROW_EXPORT FileOutputStream : public OutputStream {
 
   // Write bytes to the stream. Thread-safe
   Status Write(const void* data, int64_t nbytes) override;
-
+  /// \cond FALSE
   using Writable::Write;
+  /// \endcond
 
   int file_descriptor() const;
 
@@ -107,7 +109,11 @@ class ARROW_EXPORT FileOutputStream : public OutputStream {
   std::unique_ptr<FileOutputStreamImpl> impl_;
 };
 
-// Operating system file
+/// \brief An operating system file open in read-only mode.
+///
+/// Reads through this implementation are unbuffered.  If many small reads
+/// need to be issued, it is recommended to use a buffering layer for good
+/// performance.
 class ARROW_EXPORT ReadableFile
     : public internal::RandomAccessFileConcurrencyWrapper<ReadableFile> {
  public:
@@ -173,12 +179,13 @@ class ARROW_EXPORT ReadableFile
   std::unique_ptr<ReadableFileImpl> impl_;
 };
 
-// A file interface that uses memory-mapped files for memory interactions,
-// supporting zero copy reads. The same class is used for both reading and
-// writing.
-//
-// If opening a file in a writable mode, it is not truncated first as with
-// FileOutputStream
+/// \brief A file interface that uses memory-mapped files for memory interactions
+///
+/// This implementation supports zero-copy reads. The same class is used
+/// for both reading and writing.
+///
+/// If opening a file in a writable mode, it is not truncated first as with
+/// FileOutputStream.
 class ARROW_EXPORT MemoryMappedFile : public ReadWriteFileInterface {
  public:
   ~MemoryMappedFile() override;
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/io/memory.h b/cpp/src/arrow/io/memory.h
index 51af229f000..2346e1514f0 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/io/memory.h
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/io/memory.h
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ class Status;
 
 namespace io {
 
-// \brief An output stream that writes to a resizable buffer
+/// \brief An output stream that writes to a resizable buffer
 class ARROW_EXPORT BufferOutputStream : public OutputStream {
  public:
   explicit BufferOutputStream(const std::shared_ptr<ResizableBuffer>& buffer);
@@ -61,7 +61,9 @@ class ARROW_EXPORT BufferOutputStream : public OutputStream {
   Status Tell(int64_t* position) const override;
   Status Write(const void* data, int64_t nbytes) override;
 
+  /// \cond FALSE
   using OutputStream::Write;
+  /// \endcond
 
   /// Close the stream and return the buffer
   Status Finish(std::shared_ptr<Buffer>* result);
@@ -88,7 +90,11 @@ class ARROW_EXPORT BufferOutputStream : public OutputStream {
   uint8_t* mutable_data_;
 };
 
-// \brief A helper class to tracks the size of allocations
+/// \brief A helper class to tracks the size of allocations
+///
+/// Writes to this stream do not copy or retain any data, they just bump
+/// a size counter that can be later used to know exactly which data size
+/// needs to be allocated for actual writing.
 class ARROW_EXPORT MockOutputStream : public OutputStream {
  public:
   MockOutputStream() : extent_bytes_written_(0), is_open_(true) {}
@@ -106,7 +112,7 @@ class ARROW_EXPORT MockOutputStream : public OutputStream {
   bool is_open_;
 };
 
-/// \brief Enables random writes into a fixed-size mutable buffer
+/// \brief An output stream that writes into a fixed-size mutable buffer
 class ARROW_EXPORT FixedSizeBufferWriter : public WritableFile {
  public:
   /// Input buffer must be mutable, will abort if not
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/sparse_tensor.h b/cpp/src/arrow/sparse_tensor.h
index 2b31b476334..02650a6d35e 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/sparse_tensor.h
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/sparse_tensor.h
@@ -31,7 +31,12 @@ namespace arrow {
 
 struct SparseTensorFormat {
   /// EXPERIMENTAL: The index format type of SparseTensor
-  enum type { COO, CSR };
+  enum type {
+    /// Coordinate list (COO) format.
+    COO,
+    /// Compressed sparse row (CSR) format.
+    CSR
+  };
 };
 
 /// \brief EXPERIMENTAL: The base class for the index of a sparse tensor
@@ -83,10 +88,15 @@ class ARROW_EXPORT SparseCOOIndex : public internal::SparseIndexBase<SparseCOOIn
  public:
   static constexpr SparseTensorFormat::type format_id = SparseTensorFormat::COO;
 
-  // Constructor with a column-major NumericTensor
+  /// \brief Construct SparseCOOIndex from column-major NumericTensor
   explicit SparseCOOIndex(const std::shared_ptr<Tensor>& coords);
 
   /// \brief Return a tensor that has the coordinates of the non-zero values
+  ///
+  /// The returned tensor is a Nx3 tensor where N is the number of non-zero
+  /// values.  Each 3-element column has the form `{row, column, index}`,
+  /// indicating that the value for the logical element at `{row, column}`
+  /// should be found at the given physical index.
   const std::shared_ptr<Tensor>& indices() const { return coords_; }
 
   /// \brief Return a string representation of the sparse index
@@ -120,7 +130,7 @@ class ARROW_EXPORT SparseCSRIndex : public internal::SparseIndexBase<SparseCSRIn
  public:
   static constexpr SparseTensorFormat::type format_id = SparseTensorFormat::CSR;
 
-  // Constructor with two index vectors
+  /// \brief Construct SparseCSRIndex from two index vectors
   explicit SparseCSRIndex(const std::shared_ptr<Tensor>& indptr,
                           const std::shared_ptr<Tensor>& indices);
 
@@ -231,20 +241,23 @@ class SparseTensorImpl : public SparseTensor {
  public:
   virtual ~SparseTensorImpl() = default;
 
-  // Constructor with all attributes
+  /// \brief Construct a sparse tensor from physical data buffer and logical index
   SparseTensorImpl(const std::shared_ptr<SparseIndexType>& sparse_index,
                    const std::shared_ptr<DataType>& type,
                    const std::shared_ptr<Buffer>& data, const std::vector<int64_t>& shape,
                    const std::vector<std::string>& dim_names)
       : SparseTensor(type, data, shape, sparse_index, dim_names) {}
 
-  // Constructor for empty sparse tensor
+  /// \brief Construct an empty sparse tensor
   SparseTensorImpl(const std::shared_ptr<DataType>& type,
                    const std::vector<int64_t>& shape,
                    const std::vector<std::string>& dim_names = {})
       : SparseTensorImpl(NULLPTR, type, NULLPTR, shape, dim_names) {}
 
-  // Constructor with a dense tensor
+  /// \brief Construct a sparse tensor from a dense tensor
+  ///
+  /// The dense tensor is re-encoded as a sparse index and a physical
+  /// data buffer for the non-zero value.
   SparseTensorImpl(const Tensor& tensor,
                    const std::shared_ptr<DataType>& index_value_type)
       : SparseTensorImpl(NULLPTR, tensor.type(), NULLPTR, tensor.shape(),
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/util/compression.h b/cpp/src/arrow/util/compression.h
index a05d43e738d..9ffd79b27f4 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/util/compression.h
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/util/compression.h
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ namespace arrow {
 class Status;
 
 struct Compression {
+  /// \brief Compression algorithm
   enum type { UNCOMPRESSED, SNAPPY, GZIP, BROTLI, ZSTD, LZ4, LZO, BZ2 };
 };
 
@@ -96,6 +97,7 @@ class ARROW_EXPORT Decompressor {
   // XXX add methods for buffer size heuristics?
 };
 
+/// \brief Compression codec
 class ARROW_EXPORT Codec {
  public:
   virtual ~Codec();
@@ -107,7 +109,10 @@ class ARROW_EXPORT Codec {
   /// \brief Return a string name for compression type
   static std::string GetCodecAsString(Compression::type t);
 
+  /// \brief Create a codec for the given compression algorithm
   static Status Create(Compression::type codec, std::unique_ptr<Codec>* out);
+
+  /// \brief Create a codec for the given compression algorithm and level
   static Status Create(Compression::type codec, int compression_level,
                        std::unique_ptr<Codec>* out);
 
diff --git a/docs/source/cpp/api.rst b/docs/source/cpp/api.rst
index 1c113b7de68..f62fe52b619 100644
--- a/docs/source/cpp/api.rst
+++ b/docs/source/cpp/api.rst
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@ API Reference
    api/array
    api/builder
    api/table
+   api/tensor
    api/utilities
+   api/io
    api/cuda
    api/flight
+   api/filesystem
diff --git a/docs/source/cpp/api/filesystem.rst b/docs/source/cpp/api/filesystem.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..293dd080963
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/source/cpp/api/filesystem.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+.. Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+.. or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+.. distributed with this work for additional information
+.. regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+.. to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+.. "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+.. with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+..   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+.. Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+.. software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+.. "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+.. KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+.. specific language governing permissions and limitations
+.. under the License.
+
+===========
+Filesystems
+===========
+
+Interface
+=========
+
+.. doxygenenum:: arrow::fs::FileType
+
+.. doxygenstruct:: arrow::fs::FileStats
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::fs::FileSystem
+   :members:
+
+Concrete implementations
+========================
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::fs::SubTreeFileSystem
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::fs::LocalFileSystem
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenstruct:: arrow::fs::S3Options
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::fs::S3FileSystem
+   :members:
diff --git a/docs/source/cpp/api/flight.rst b/docs/source/cpp/api/flight.rst
index 4e56a7690ac..d226a1e5673 100644
--- a/docs/source/cpp/api/flight.rst
+++ b/docs/source/cpp/api/flight.rst
@@ -19,11 +19,11 @@
 Arrow Flight RPC
 ================
 
-.. warning:: Flight is currently unstable. APIs are subject to change,
-             though we don't expect drastic changes.
+.. note:: Flight is currently unstable. APIs are subject to change,
+          though we don't expect drastic changes.
 
-.. warning:: Flight is currently only available when built from source
-             appropriately.
+.. note:: Flight is currently only available when built from source
+          appropriately.
 
 Common Types
 ============
diff --git a/docs/source/cpp/api/io.rst b/docs/source/cpp/api/io.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..735136a0d47
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/source/cpp/api/io.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+.. Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+.. or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+.. distributed with this work for additional information
+.. regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+.. to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+.. "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+.. with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+..   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+.. Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+.. software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+.. "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+.. KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+.. specific language governing permissions and limitations
+.. under the License.
+
+==============
+Input / output
+==============
+
+Interfaces
+==========
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::io::FileInterface
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::io::Readable
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::io::Seekable
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::io::Writable
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::io::InputStream
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::io::RandomAccessFile
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::io::OutputStream
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::io::ReadWriteFileInterface
+   :members:
+
+Concrete implementations
+========================
+
+In-memory streams
+-----------------
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::io::BufferReader
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::io::MockOutputStream
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::io::BufferOutputStream
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::io::FixedSizeBufferWriter
+   :members:
+
+Local files
+-----------
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::io::ReadableFile
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::io::FileOutputStream
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::io::MemoryMappedFile
+   :members:
+
+Buffering input / output wrappers
+---------------------------------
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::io::BufferedInputStream
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::io::BufferedOutputStream
+   :members:
+
+Compressed input / output wrappers
+----------------------------------
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::io::CompressedInputStream
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::io::CompressedOutputStream
+   :members:
diff --git a/docs/source/cpp/api/memory.rst b/docs/source/cpp/api/memory.rst
index c921229e6cb..93d8444b916 100644
--- a/docs/source/cpp/api/memory.rst
+++ b/docs/source/cpp/api/memory.rst
@@ -39,6 +39,15 @@ Memory Pools
 .. doxygenfunction:: arrow::default_memory_pool
    :project: arrow_cpp
 
+.. doxygenfunction:: arrow::jemalloc_memory_pool
+   :project: arrow_cpp
+
+.. doxygenfunction:: arrow::mimalloc_memory_pool
+   :project: arrow_cpp
+
+.. doxygenfunction:: arrow::system_memory_pool
+   :project: arrow_cpp
+
 .. doxygenclass:: arrow::MemoryPool
    :project: arrow_cpp
    :members:
diff --git a/docs/source/cpp/api/tensor.rst b/docs/source/cpp/api/tensor.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..eb783f296b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/source/cpp/api/tensor.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+.. Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+.. or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+.. distributed with this work for additional information
+.. regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+.. to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+.. "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+.. with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+..   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+.. Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+.. software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+.. "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+.. KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+.. specific language governing permissions and limitations
+.. under the License.
+
+=======
+Tensors
+=======
+
+Dense Tensors
+=============
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::Tensor
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::NumericTensor
+   :members:
+
+Sparse Tensors
+==============
+
+.. doxygenenum:: arrow::SparseTensorFormat::type
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::SparseIndex
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::SparseCOOIndex
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::SparseCSRIndex
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::SparseTensor
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::SparseTensorImpl
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygentypedef:: arrow::SparseTensorCOO
+
+.. doxygentypedef:: arrow::SparseTensorCSR
diff --git a/docs/source/cpp/api/utilities.rst b/docs/source/cpp/api/utilities.rst
index 0aaffb54a47..87c5a3bbe04 100644
--- a/docs/source/cpp/api/utilities.rst
+++ b/docs/source/cpp/api/utilities.rst
@@ -37,3 +37,16 @@ Abstract Sequences
    :project: arrow_cpp
    :members:
 
+Compression
+===========
+
+.. doxygenenum:: arrow::Compression::type
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::util::Codec
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::util::Compressor
+   :members:
+
+.. doxygenclass:: arrow::util::Decompressor
+   :members:
diff --git a/docs/source/cpp/getting_started.rst b/docs/source/cpp/getting_started.rst
index 7c55b76912d..0f43a61c5c8 100644
--- a/docs/source/cpp/getting_started.rst
+++ b/docs/source/cpp/getting_started.rst
@@ -29,3 +29,4 @@ Getting Started
    arrays
    datatypes
    tables
+   io
diff --git a/docs/source/cpp/io.rst b/docs/source/cpp/io.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..898bc9a5592
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/source/cpp/io.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+.. Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+.. or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+.. distributed with this work for additional information
+.. regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+.. to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+.. "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+.. with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+..   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+.. Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+.. software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+.. "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+.. KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+.. specific language governing permissions and limitations
+.. under the License.
+
+.. default-domain:: cpp
+.. highlight:: cpp
+
+==============================
+Input / output and filesystems
+==============================
+
+Arrow provides a range of C++ interfaces abstracting the concrete details
+of input / output operations.  They operate on streams of untyped binary data.
+Those abstractions are used for various purposes such as reading CSV or
+Parquet data, transmitting IPC streams, and more.
+
+.. cpp:namespace:: arrow::io
+
+Reading binary data
+===================
+
+Interfaces for reading binary data come in two flavours:
+
+* Sequential reading: the :class:`InputStream` interface provides
+  ``Read`` methods; it is recommended to ``Read`` to a ``Buffer`` as it
+  may in some cases avoid a memory copy.
+
+* Random access reading: the :class:`RandomAccessFile` interface
+  provides additional facilities for positioning and, most importantly,
+  the ``ReadAt`` methods which allow parallel reading from multiple threads.
+
+Concrete implementations are available for :class:`in-memory reads <BufferReader>`,
+:class:`unbuffered file reads <ReadableFile>`,
+:class:`memory-mapped file reads <MemoryMappedFile>`,
+:class:`buffered reads <BufferedInputStream>`,
+:class:`compressed reads <CompressedInputStream>`.
+
+Writing binary data
+===================
+
+Writing binary data is mostly done through the :class:`OutputStream`
+interface.
+
+Concrete implementations are available for :class:`in-memory writes <BufferOutputStream>`,
+:class:`unbuffered file writes <FileOutputStream>`,
+:class:`memory-mapped file writes <MemoryMappedFile>`,
+:class:`buffered writes <BufferedOutputStream>`,
+:class:`compressed writes <CompressedOutputStream>`.
+
+.. cpp:namespace:: arrow::fs
+
+Filesystems
+===========
+
+The :class:`filesystem interface <FileSystem>` allows abstracted access over
+various data storage backends such as the local filesystem or a S3 bucket.
+It provides input and output streams as well as directory operations.
+
+The filesystem interface exposes a simplified view of the underlying data
+storage.  Data paths are represented as *abstract paths*, which are
+``/``-separated, even on Windows, and shouldn't include special path
+components such as ``.`` and ``..``.  Symbolic links, if supported by the
+underlying storage, are automatically dereferenced.  Only basic
+:class:`metadata <FileStats>` about file entries, such as the file size
+and modification time, is made available.
+
+Concrete implementations are available for
+:class:`local filesystem access <LocalFileSystem>` and
+:class:`Amazon S3-compatible storage <S3FileSystem>`.
+
+.. note::
+   The filesystem layer is currently experimental.  API details may vary
+   in the future.
diff --git a/docs/source/cpp/overview.rst b/docs/source/cpp/overview.rst
index 53fc998eae6..ccebdba45dd 100644
--- a/docs/source/cpp/overview.rst
+++ b/docs/source/cpp/overview.rst
@@ -89,3 +89,9 @@ The devices layer
 
 Basic **CUDA** integration is provided, allowing to describe Arrow data backed
 by GPU-allocated memory.
+
+The filesystem layer
+--------------------
+
+A filesystem abstraction allows reading and writing data from different storage
+backends, such as the local filesystem or a S3 bucket.
diff --git a/docs/source/cpp/tables.rst b/docs/source/cpp/tables.rst
index e929c6eecd8..d5dbb3f73b7 100644
--- a/docs/source/cpp/tables.rst
+++ b/docs/source/cpp/tables.rst
@@ -18,9 +18,9 @@
 .. default-domain:: cpp
 .. highlight:: cpp
 
-========================
-Two-dimensional Datasets
-========================
+============
+Tabular Data
+============
 
 While arrays and chunked arrays represent a one-dimensional sequence of
 homogenous values, data often comes in the form of two-dimensional sets of