Military Time Converter

How to convert military time

• Military to standard: if the time is 1300 or later, subtract 1200 and add PM (1845 − 1200 = 6:45 PM). From 0100 to 1159, drop any leading zero and add AM (0930 = 9:30 AM). 1200 to 1259 is PM, and 0000 to 0059 is 12 AM.
• Standard to military: for PM times add 12 to the hour (4:20 PM = 1620). For AM times, use a leading zero (7:05 AM = 0705). 12 PM stays 1200, and 12 AM becomes 0000.
• Military time is written without a colon, with four digits: 0915, not 9:15.

Midnight: 0000 or 2400?

Both describe midnight. 0000 is the first moment of a day and 2400 is the last moment of the previous day, so “Monday 2400” and “Tuesday 0000” are the same instant. Most rosters, hospitals and airlines use 0000 (or 2359 for “end of day”) to avoid mistakes about which date is meant.

Minutes to decimal hours (payroll)

Timesheets often need hours as decimals. Divide the minutes by 60: 7 hours 45 minutes is 7.75 hours, so a shift from 0800 to 1545 is 7.75 hours.

Military time zones and Zulu time

The military gives each time zone a letter, spoken with the military alphabet. Zulu (Z) is UTC, used worldwide so that orders and flight plans mean the same moment everywhere. A time like 1430Z is 2:30 PM UTC, which is 10:30 AM in New York during daylight saving time. US zones use these letters:

To convert Zulu time to a US zone, use the time zone converter with UTC as the starting zone.

Who uses military time?

In the US, the 24-hour clock is called “military time”, but it is also standard in hospitals and nursing, aviation, police, fire and EMS dispatch, shipping and many shift-based jobs, because it removes any AM/PM mix-ups. In most other countries the same 24-hour format is simply the everyday way to write the time.