Abstract Along with the increasing penetration of distributed generation with voltage-source converters (VSCs), there are extensive concerns over the potential virtual rotor angle stability, which is characterized by oscillations of power and frequency during the dynamic process of synchronization in the grid. Several control strategies have been developed for VSCs to emulate rotating inertia as well as damping of oscillations. This paper classifies these strategies and provides a small-signal modeling framework including all kinds of VSCs in different applications for virtual rotor angle stability. A unified perspective based on the famous Phillips–Heffron model is established for various VSCs. Thus, the concepts of equivalent inertia and the synchronizing and damping coefficients in different VSCs are highlighted, based on the similarities with the synchronous generator (SG) system in both physical mechanisms and mathematical models. It revealed the potentiality of various VSCs to achieve equivalence with the SG. This study helps promote the unity of VSCs and traditional SGs in both theories and methods for analyzing the dynamic behavior and enhancing the stability. Finally, future research needs and new perspectives are addressed.