The smooth, shiny, nonpeeling outer bark, red brown on younger stems, is almost black on older trunks and deeply furrowed into irregular scales. The twigs and inner bark smell and taste like wintergreen.

The hard, close-grained wood is similar to that of yellow birch but denser and of deeper colour; both are used for veneer, flooring, furniture, doors, plywood, and vehicle parts. Sweet birch is a source of birch oil, formerly a substitute for oil of wintergreen. Birch beer is made from the sap.