How to convert between time zones
- In From, pick the zone the time is in, for example EST/EDT — Eastern Standard Time.
- Enter the Time and the Date. The date is used to apply the right summer or winter offset.
- In To, pick the target zone, or keep Your time zone.
- The Converted time shows the result, with the day when it differs from the original date.
Below the converter, the Time zones list shows the live time in 22 major zones, west to east. Each card shows the abbreviation in use now (EST in winter, EDT in summer), the current UTC offset and the time. Some cards link to a page with more detail: Mountain Time, GMT, CET, IST and Eastern Time.
UTC offsets
Every time zone is defined by its offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). New York is UTC−5 in winter, Paris is UTC+1 and Tokyo is UTC+9. Offsets run from UTC−12 to UTC+14. Not every offset is a whole hour: India is UTC+5:30, Iran UTC+3:30, Newfoundland UTC−3:30, Adelaide UTC+9:30 and Nepal UTC+5:45.
| Zone | Abbreviation | Offset in January | Offset in July |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | PST / PDT | UTC−8 | UTC−7 |
| New York | EST / EDT | UTC−5 | UTC−4 |
| London | GMT / BST | UTC+0 | UTC+1 |
| Paris, Berlin | CET / CEST | UTC+1 | UTC+2 |
| India | IST | UTC+5:30 | UTC+5:30 |
| Tokyo | JST | UTC+9 | UTC+9 |
| Sydney | AEDT / AEST | UTC+11 | UTC+10 |
Time zone abbreviations are ambiguous
Abbreviations are handy but not unique. CST is both Central Standard Time (UTC−6) and China Standard Time (UTC+8). IST can mean India Standard Time (UTC+5:30), Irish Standard Time (UTC+1, Ireland in summer) or Israel Standard Time (UTC+2). AST is Atlantic Standard Time (UTC−4) or Arabia Standard Time (UTC+3), and BST is British Summer Time or Bangladesh Standard Time. When it matters, name a city or give the UTC offset.
GMT and UTC
GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) and UTC both sit at offset zero. UTC is the scientific standard kept by atomic clocks; GMT is a time zone. The United Kingdom uses GMT only in winter and switches to BST (UTC+1) in summer, which is why London time is not always GMT. See daylight saving time for when clocks change, or the world clock to follow your own list of cities.