Bip38 encryption allows you to protect your paper wallet with a password, giving it more security.
If your paper wallet is stolen or the private key is exposed, your funds will still be safe, because it cannot be unlocked without the password.

However, if you forget the password, there is absolutely no way to recover the wallet, this means that your funds will be PERMANENTLY LOST.
Always make sure that you can decrypt the wallet before sending any bitcoins to it!

Note that other applications may only support decryption of legacy addresses. To decrypt segwit addresses, you most likely need to use this site. Alternatively, you could decrypt the private key elsewhere, then generate the segwit address corresponding to that private key.