Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method, a server, and a system for starting an application. The method includes: receiving identifier information sent by a terminal, where the identifier information includes information about a user identifier, an application identifier, and a terminal identifier; and selecting an appropriate virtual machine for the terminal from idle virtual machines according to the identifier information, so that after starting an application program corresponding to the application identifier, the virtual machine sets up a connection with the terminal. A unified virtual experience server is set in the embodiments of the present disclosure, so that all applications run in a virtual machine, and a client only needs to receive audio and video data in a process of running an application in a virtual machine at a remote end, thereby allowing the client to receive a result of an application program run on different operating systems.