Telepresence utilizes technology closely related to that of VR. Telepresence is a medium in which transducers, such as video cameras and microphones, substitute for the corresponding senses of the participant. The participant is able to remotely see and hear from the first person POV with the aid of sensing devices in a remote location. The user can interact and affect the remote environment by actions reproduced on the remote end. Telepresence differs from the general case of VR by representing the physical world as opposed to representing a world that is entirely computer generated.

Telepresence is an application that uses VR-related technology to virtually place the user somewhere else in space—whether in an adjoining room or on a neighboring planet. Perhaps the primary reason the term presence is used by so many VR practitioners is because telepresence had been an established term in the related domain of remote control operations prior to the advent of Virtual Reality.