--- title: "VR vs AR vs MR: the key differences explained simply" description: "Two questions separate them: does the real room stay visible, and do digital objects react to it? Compare immersion, hardware and training uses side by side." canonical: https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/xr/vr-vs-ar-vs-mr --- [Learn](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn) # VR vs AR vs MR: what is the difference? Two questions separate them: does the real room stay visible, and do digital objects react to it. Two people compare three technology formats. ## Replace, add, or anchor VR replaces the room and cuts the wearer off from it. AR leaves it visible and lays text, diagrams or 3D models over the top, without the two interacting. MR also leaves it visible, and lets digital objects anchor to real surfaces, hide behind real obstacles and react to the space around them. ## Comparison table: VR vs AR vs MR The practical questions answered for each format. Every column heading opens the page that explains that technology in full. A digital panel, partly hidden behind a monitor. [VR](https://peopletechrevolution.com/xr/virtual-reality) [AR](https://peopletechrevolution.com/xr/augmented-reality) [MR](https://peopletechrevolution.com/xr/mixed-reality) Physical world visible? No, blocked by an enclosed headset Yes, with overlays added Yes, and virtual objects react to it Immersion level Highest: total visual and often audio immersion Lowest: an addition, not a replacement In between: a layer anchored to the real room Typical hardware Enclosed headset, standalone or PC-tethered Smartphone, tablet or optical smart glasses Passthrough or see-through headset with depth sensors Best suited when The scenario is high-risk or hard to access, and full attention plus repetition matter People need on-the-job guidance while still watching their surroundings People need a real object and rich digital detail at the same time Example interaction Practising a scripted conversation with an animated character in a recreated room Pointing a phone at a machine to see a repair step overlaid on it A hologram sits on a real desk and ducks behind a real monitor as you move Three choices, the classroom fully replaced. ### The VR row, in one moment An empty classroom that is not really there, three replies floating in it, and a learner deciding which to give. Nothing of the real room is visible, which is the whole point: the attention has nowhere else to go. ## Key distinguishing factors What decides which one suits a job: how cut off the learner is, whether the digital layer knows about the room, and what hardware people already own. Immersion and physical isolation. VR separates the learner from the physical room completely, which maximises focus for complex simulations. AR and MR keep situational awareness: the room, colleagues and hazards stay in view, which makes them safer in active operational environments. Environmental awareness and occlusion. In basic AR, graphics sit on top of the display and ignore physical objects between the user and the model. In MR, depth sensors let a hand or a chair naturally conceal a virtual object behind it, and spatial mapping lets virtual items rest on real floors and tables. Hardware accessibility. AR has the lowest barrier because it runs on the phones and tablets staff and students already own. VR and MR generally need a head-mounted display: higher immersion, and dedicated hardware to manage. ## Choosing the right technology for your organisation There is no ranking here. The choice comes out of the training goal, the room it happens in, and the budget. Choose virtual reality when the scenario involves physical danger, such as fire safety, high-voltage equipment or confined-space entry, where a mistake in the real world is hazardous or expensive, or when learners need complete immersion in a place that cannot be physically accessed. Choose augmented reality when workers need contextual guidance while doing everyday tasks, such as field equipment maintenance, warehouse picking or remote technical support, or when learning has to reach a large audience on the phones they already carry. Choose mixed reality when learners need real tools and digital content at the same time, such as medical students practising on a physical manikin with virtual anatomy overlaid, or engineers evaluating a full-scale digital prototype inside a real facility. ## In practice at PTR PTR delivers across VR, AR and MR. The format is chosen from the problem rather than from a preference. A clinical scenario for practising conversation. ### Most of the evaluated work is VR The largest body of evaluated case work is virtual reality, such as Mater Education's "Speaking with Good Judgement" program, because that is where the research literature is deepest. AR runs from marker-based experiences you can open on a phone through to guided overlays on real equipment. MR anchors holographic people and objects in the room the learner is already standing in. Ask any vendor, including this one, to show what they have delivered and evaluated in the format they are proposing. [Mater Education case study](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/mater-speaking-with-good-judgement), [PTR's augmented reality page](https://peopletechrevolution.com/xr/augmented-reality), [PTR's mixed reality page](https://peopletechrevolution.com/xr/mixed-reality). ## Common overlapping scenarios Modern headsets increasingly support more than one format, moving between a fully virtual room and a view that brings the physical one back. A pump model on a real desk. ### One headset, two formats Many standalone headsets now have full-colour video passthrough, so a single device works as a fully immersive VR simulator and switches to an MR workspace with a double tap. Organisations often combine formats: mobile AR for broad introductory learning, and VR or MR headsets for advanced practical simulation. To see how organisations evaluate and apply these formats, visit the [XR overview](https://peopletechrevolution.com/xr). ### Practising a conversation in the office A colleague steadies her through a first session. Headset lifted, the office scene talked through. A hand on the shoulder, mid scenario. ## The short version The fastest way to tell them apart is two questions about the room. A real control panel under a digital layer. ### Can you see the room, and does it react? Can you still see the real room, and if so, do digital objects actually react to it? No to both means VR. Yes to seeing it but no reaction means AR. Yes to both means MR. Still working out which one fits? Ask our CEO Simon Lowe’s Digital Twin a question [Open the contact form](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/xr/vr-vs-ar-vs-mr#contact) Related PTR work and further reading [What is XR? The umbrella term, and where VR, AR and MR sit under it.](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/xr/what-is-xr) [What is virtual reality? The room replaced entirely, and why that is the point.](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/xr/what-is-virtual-reality) [What is augmented reality? Digital content over the real world, on a phone or through glasses.](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/xr/what-is-augmented-reality) [What is mixed reality? Digital objects anchored in the real room, and responding to it.](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/xr/what-is-mixed-reality) ## Sources and further reading Research on the reality-virtuality continuum, AR and MR definitions, and cybersickness. ### A Taxonomy of Mixed Reality Visual Displays Paul Milgram and Fumio Kishino · 1994 IEICE Transactions on Information and Systems. The reality-virtuality continuum the three formats sit on. [Read it at globals.ieice.org](https://globals.ieice.org/en_transactions/information/10.1587/e77-d_12_1321/_p) ### A Survey of Augmented Reality Ronald T. Azuma · 1997 Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, MIT Press. The definition of AR most later work builds on. [Read it at dl.acm.org](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1162/pres.1997.6.4.355) ### What is Mixed Reality? Speicher, Hall and Nebeling · 2019 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. The interview and literature study behind the competing definitions of MR. [Read it at dl.acm.org](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3290605.3300767) ### A Discussion of Cybersickness in Virtual Environments Joseph J. LaViola Jr. · 2000 ACM SIGCHI Bulletin. The causes and mitigations of discomfort in enclosed VR. [Read it at dl.acm.org](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/333329.333344)