List of virtual reality headsets
There are two primary categories of virtual reality headsets:
- Standalone devices that have all necessary components to provide virtual reality experiences integrated into the headset. Mainstream standalone VR platforms include:
- * Oculus Mobile SDK, developed by Oculus VR for its own standalone headsets and the Samsung Gear VR.
- Tethered headsets that act as a display device to another device, like a PC or a video game console, to provide a virtual reality experience. Mainstream tethered VR platforms include:
- * SteamVR, part of the Steam service by Valve. The SteamVR platform uses the OpenVR SDK to support headsets from multiple manufacturers, including HTC, Windows Mixed Reality headset manufacturers, and Valve themselves. A list of supported video games can be found here.
- * Oculus PC SDK for Oculus Rift and Oculus Rift S. The list of supported games is here.
- * Windows Mixed Reality, developed by Microsoft Corporation for Windows 10, version 20H2, through Windows 11, version 23H2 PCs.
- * PlayStation VR, developed by Sony Computer Entertainment for use with PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 home video game console.
- * Open Source Virtual Reality. The list of supported games is here.
In addition, VR headsets are categorized by the degrees of freedom they provide:
- 3DoF: 3 degrees of freedom, which only tracks the rotation of the player's head.
- 6DoF: 6 degrees of freedom, which tracks both the position and the rotation of the player.
Tethered and non-Tethered VR
Extensive comparison of popular PC-based devices
The following tables compare general and technical information for a selection of popular retail head-mounted displays. See the individual display's articles for further information. Please note that the following table may be missing some information.VR support in game engines
| Platform | Unity | Unreal Engine | CryEngine | Godot | Platform-specific SDK |
| SteamVR | , CryEngine V | ||||
| Oculus PC | |||||
| Oculus Mobile | |||||
| Windows Mixed Reality | , Unity 2017.2 and later | , Unreal Engine 4 and later | , CryEngine | Unknown | |
| Open Source Virtual Reality | , via OpenHMD |