CAD stands for Computer-Aided Design: software for creating precise 2D and 3D models, dominant in engineering, manufacturing and product design. CAD tools like SolidWorks, Autodesk Fusion, Inventor, CATIA, Creo and Rhino describe parts mathematically through parametric, solid and surface geometry, which is ideal for production but not for the web. To show a CAD model in the browser or in AR, it is converted to a mesh format like GLB or USDZ.
Draco is Google’s open-source 3D mesh compression algorithm, integrated into the glTF and GLB pipeline as the optional KHR_draco_mesh_compression extension. It typically reduces 3D model geometry to a third of the original file size with no visible quality loss, which directly improves load times for web 3D and AR. Most authoring tools and renderers, including Blender and Google’s model-viewer, support Draco natively. PausAR Viewer handles Draco-encoded GLB files transparently.
Extended Reality (XR) is the umbrella term for all technologies that merge the physical and digital worlds: Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality. The idea traces back to the reality-virtuality continuum described by Paul Milgram and Fumio Kishino in 1994, a scale running from the fully real environment at one end to a fully virtual one at the other. Apple and parts of the industry also market this space as spatial computing.
FBX stands for Filmbox. It’s a proprietary 3D exchange format owned by Autodesk and one of the most widely used formats for moving models, rigs and animations between professional tools. FBX is excellent for production pipelines but is not web-ready: browsers cannot display it directly, so for Web AR an FBX file is converted to GLB or USDZ first.
GLB stands for GL Transmission Format Binary. It’s the binary variant of the glTF standard, developed by the Khronos Group. GLB packs geometry, textures and animations into a single file and has become the de-facto format for 3D on the web, formally standardized as ISO/IEC 12113:2022. Every modern browser, Android device and 3D viewer can display GLB directly, which is why most Web AR runs on it.
glTF stands for GL Transmission Format (also written as Graphics Library Transmission Format). It’s an open, royalty-free standard from the Khronos Group for transmitting and displaying 3D models, released in 2015 and now at version 2.0. People often call it “the JPEG for 3D” because it focuses on delivering finished models efficiently to browsers, apps and devices rather than editing them.
Google Scene Viewer is the Android component that displays GLB files as Augmented Reality in the real environment. It ships as part of Google Play Services for AR (the runtime for ARCore) and is pre-installed on most certified Android phones. Scene Viewer is launched from the browser via a special intent URL.
LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) measures distance by timing reflected light. On Apple devices the LiDAR Scanner sits on the Pro iPhones and the iPad Pro, mapping depth up to roughly five metres at the speed of light. It gives AR apps an instant, accurate sense of the room, so virtual objects place faster and sit more convincingly. It is a sensing technology, not a file format or a viewer.
Mixed Reality (MR) describes experiences where real and virtual content not only coexist but interact, so a digital object can be hidden behind a real table or cast a believable shadow in your room. The term comes from Milgram and Kishino’s 1994 taxonomy, where MR covers the whole middle of the reality-virtuality continuum. Today it is most associated with passthrough headsets like the Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest.
model-viewer is an open-source web component developed by Google that lets you embed 3D models and AR content directly into HTML pages. Under the hood it runs on Three.js, detects the device automatically and hands AR requests over to Apple Quick Look on iOS or Google Scene Viewer on Android. For plain 3D display in the browser, it uses WebGL.
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