What Is Mixed Reality?

Key takeaways

• Mixed reality is technology that combines virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), blending digital content with the real world in a way that fosters interaction.

• The benefits of augmented, virtual, and mixed reality include more immersive gaming, new ways to improve patient care, and providing engaging learning options.

• A key feature of mixed reality is the ability to interact with the digital world in real time, which helps it feel more authentic and lifelike.

When evaluating mixed reality versus AR, the primary differentiating factor is mixed reality’s realistic interactions. Continue reading to explore what mixed reality is and how it’s transforming industries by learning how it works, how it compares to existing technologies, and what a career might look like in this area.

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What is mixed reality?

Mixed reality is a hybrid that combines VR and AR technologies, allowing you to blend the digital and physical world and interact with digital content superimposed in the real world. It’s a type of spatial computing, and the systems constantly scan the physical environment for spatial understanding, which allows MR devices to map the space and understand its geometry, anchor virtual objects in specific spots in the physical world, and even place virtual objects in hidden locations, such as behind a piece of furniture.

Mixed reality, or integrating digital information into the real world, is a concept people have been thinking about for over 100 years. Since at least the 1930s, writers and thinkers have imagined a future where technology could advance beyond real-world experiences. But it wasn’t until 1994 that the phrase mixed reality was coined by Paul Milgram, an American economist who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2020, and Fumio Kishino, former director of the Cybermedia Center at Osaka University.

Their paper, A Taxonomy of Mixed Reality Visual Displays, discussed mixed reality visual displays and identified six classes of display environments for mixed reality. In doing so, they also defined the concept of a virtuality continuum, the idea that the real and virtual worlds exist at opposite ends of a spectrum, with mixed reality forming the gradient in between. In the decades since, mixed reality technology advancements now include spatial mapping and environmental understanding, hand- and eye-tracking, awareness of sound in a spatial dimension, and the ability to conduct collaborative work on 3D assets.

Mixed reality vs. AR vs. VR

Mixed reality is closely related to augmented and virtual reality. In fact, these concepts exist on a scale called the virtuality continuum or the mixed reality spectrum. Reality exists on one end, the physical world. At the opposite end of the continuum, virtual reality exists as a distinct environment, one completely separate from the physical or “real” world. To enter VR spaces, you first put on a headset or other device that gives you the sensation of being entirely elsewhere. On the other end is the purely physical world, and between these two extremes, mixed reality and augmented reality blur the lines of what is real and what is virtual, allowing you to interact simultaneously with real and virtual objects.

Virtual reality

Virtual reality is a fully simulated environment you experience by closing your senses off from reality and wearing equipment such as a headset. Virtual reality allows you to experience things you would not otherwise be able to do, such as riding a rollercoaster while sitting on your living room couch or walking on the surface of the moon. While you don't see any elements of the real world (your living room), you are limited to the parameters of your actual space when using VR. For example, you couldn’t explore very much of the moon's surface before the physical reality of your environment would force you to interact with it, such as opening a door.

Read more: How Does Virtual Reality Work?

Augmented reality

Augmented reality keeps you in the real-world environment and superimposes digital content to enhance it, allowing you to see the content through screens or other devices. For example, you can use augmented reality to project an image of a bookshelf into your living room to see if it fits the space and design of your room before you make a purchase. Augmented reality allows you to add new information or make new connections with the reality in front of you.

What is the difference between AR and MR?

The key difference between AR and MR is that augmented reality is a digital overlay with limited interaction, while mixed reality blends physical elements with digital ones, allowing simultaneous interaction. It's like an evolution of AR, combining technological advancements in areas such as computer vision, display technology, cloud computing, and graphical processing for enhanced, interactive user experiences. In AR, a virtual object just rests in a fixed position on the screen, while MR allows you to move the object because the technology understands the characteristics of the physical space.

Mixed reality vs. AI

Artificial intelligence is augmenting the power of mixed reality, allowing the two technologies to work together for even more powerful results. While MR enhances the physical world with digital information, AI can further enhance the effects, helping to personalize the experience even more to the person or situation. AI algorithms help enhance object recognition, scene comprehension, and context of the surroundings for intuitive experiences with a deep level of detail.

How does mixed reality work?

In simple terms, mixed reality works through sensors that provide a computer with insight into our physical world. Using different sensors, a computer processor can perceive a lot of different information about the world we live in, such as the positions of objects in the room, levels of ambient light and sound, and our physical location as we move through space.

Other technologies that power mixed reality include computer vision, cloud computing, input systems, graphical processing, and display technologies.

• Computer vision: This subfield of artificial intelligence (AI) allows a computer to make sense of visual information, like videos or images, and take corresponding action. Mixed reality uses computer vision to see and understand the physical world.

• Cloud computing: Cloud computing is the technology that allows you on-demand access to software, systems, or other files through the cloud instead of being stored locally on your company’s equipment. An example of cloud computing in mixed reality is Azure Remote Rendering, which offers graphical processing you can access through the cloud on demand.

• Input systems: Input systems are the means through which you can interact with a mixed reality environment, such as using a controller or a haptic glove. Other examples of input systems could allow you to interact with the digital content through gestures, pointers, or your voice.

• Graphical processing: Graphical processing units (GPUs) use graphical processing to render 3D graphics and realistic visuals. You can use this mixed reality component to render digital images in a physical space.

• Display technologies: Display technologies output visual information, such as on the screen of a headset, allowing you to view digital content while retaining your view of your physical environment.

What are some examples of mixed reality (MR)?

In 2025, Gordon Wetzstein, an electrical engineering professor at Stanford University, led a new project producing a mixed-reality display about the size of traditional eyeglasses that incorporates holography. Holography, a three-dimensional display that recreates realistic 3D images of an object, enables Wetzstein's mixed reality glasses to project these images, giving wearers a lifelike combination of the virtual and real worlds. Other examples of mixed reality include the following:

• Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest 3S headsets allow users to experience MR while playing games like Cubism and Infinite Inside. Beyond gaming, a few MR examples include:

• Boeing’s implementation of Microsoft's HoloLens to allow workers to view 3D wiring diagrams, schematics, and safety hazards in their headsets while working on equipment to reduce the risk of errors and accelerate the wiring process

• Head-mounted MR tools like Microsoft HoloLens can also help guide surgeons with real-time navigation and image reference

• Organizations can use MR tools like Meta Quest as part of their training programs, which often helps support improved learning and confidence among trainees

What is mixed reality used for?

The uses and applications of mixed reality are vast and already changing the landscape of industries such as health care, education, entertainment, gaming, business, and architecture. Use cases for mixed reality include the following:

• Gaming: The game Pokémon Go, which launched and became popular in 2016, introduced many people to the idea of using augmented and mixed reality for gaming. Today, many other video games, such as Angry Birds FPS, and franchises like Star Wars are taking advantage of the technology.

• Health care: Mixed reality offers solutions for health care in various ways, from training new health care professionals to improving imaging and patient care. For example, HoloAnatomy is an app developed at Case Western Reserve University using Microsoft’s HoloLens to project advanced anatomy maps into a space where users can interact with them. Health care professionals can also use mixed reality in surgery while screening patients for cardiac anomalies, improving precision in radiology, and more.

• Education: Mixed reality can be a tool for training and education, both in a classroom setting and to provide on-the-job training. Instead of engaging in complex or dangerous training exercises, instructors and students can complete simulated training exercises. Grand Canyon University conducted experiments using mixed reality in the classroom, and it found many benefits to integrating the technology, including the ability to create a lab for experimentation anywhere through virtual means, eliminating some of the costs of running a lab, and providing an engaging learning exercise for students.

• Engineering: Engineers have already established virtual reality as an important tool for designing complex builds and modeling conceptual structures. Mixed reality offers additional capabilities by bringing those 3D models out of isolated computer screens and into the real-world environment, where a team can manipulate them collaboratively. This form of mixed reality uses holographic computing, such as Microsoft’s HoloLens.

Careers in mixed reality

Mixed reality technology requires many professionals to design, create, test, and support mixed reality software and hardware. You may find the work you’re looking for in mixed reality under a job title labeled augmented or virtual reality. Explore three potential careers in the mixed reality or extended reality field: AR/VR developer, AR/VR software engineer, and virtual reality producer.

AR/VR developer

Total median US salary (Glassdoor): $117,000 [1]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2025 to 2035): 10 percent [2]

Education requirements: AR/VR developers typically need to earn a bachelor’s degree in computer information science or a related field, such as engineering or math.

As an augmented or virtual reality developer, you generally help create experiences using AR and VR technology. You often use tools like Unity and Unreal Engine to create software directly, and you may also play a role in designing and testing the software and creating the product's general strategy. In this career, you typically work as part of a team of other developers and professionals, like designers and project managers.

AR/VR software engineer

Total median US salary (Glassdoor): $190,000 [3]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2025 to 2035): 10 percent [2]

Education requirements: AR/VR software engineers typically need to earn a bachelor’s degree in computer information science or a related field, such as engineering or math.

As an augmented or virtual reality software engineer, you typically design, debug, and develop prototypes for products that create VR or AR environments. In this role, you may \build VR/AR software solutions, or you may work on hardware products to support VR/AR environments.

Virtual reality producer

Total median US salary (Glassdoor): $84,000 [4]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2025 to 2035): 3 percent [5]

Education requirements: Virtual reality producers typically need a bachelor’s degree in film, broadcasting, communications, or a related field. Alternatively, you could come into the field from a VR development background with a computer science and information technology degree.

As a virtual reality producer or content creator, you typically work to create the visual component of virtual reality projects. In this role, you may develop content in one of two primary ways: entirely digital means based on coding an interactive experience, or by collecting video and audio from the real world to populate your virtual world.

All salary information represents the median total pay from Glassdoor as of September 2026. These figures include base salary and additional pay, which may represent profit-sharing, commissions, bonuses, or other compensation.

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