How to use the table
Each row of the table is one time zone. The columns show:
- Time zone: the zone’s name, with the Main areas it covers.
- Current time: the live local time in the zone.
- Now: the abbreviation in use today, which changes between standard and summer time where daylight saving time is observed.
- UTC offset: the difference from Coordinated Universal Time today.
- Daylight saving time: the date of the Next change, or Not observed if the zone keeps the same time all year.
All times come from the time zone database built into your browser, so they follow the latest rules your device knows about.
Zones, areas and rules
A time zone is more than an offset. Two areas can share the same offset in winter and differ in summer, because one changes its clocks and the other does not. That is why the table lists areas, not only offsets: the rules that matter are set by each country and, in some places, by each state, province or territory.
Borders between zones rarely follow straight lines. They usually follow state, county or national boundaries, and they are sometimes moved when a community asks to share the time of its main trading partner. The areas in the table describe the main parts of each zone; small exceptions near the edges are common.
Daylight saving time within Australia
Where daylight saving time is used, the clocks move forward one hour in spring and back one hour in autumn, and the offset in the table grows by one hour in between. Where it is not used, the row shows Not observed and the offset stays the same all year. For the exact dates and the rules behind them, see daylight saving time and the year-by-year list for 2026.
Abbreviations and offsets
Abbreviations such as EST, GMT or AEST are convenient but not unique; the same letters can mean a different zone elsewhere in the world. When a time needs to be exact, add the UTC offset or a city name. The time zone abbreviations list explains each code with its full name and offset.
Other regions and tools
To convert a specific time between zones, use the time zone converter. The time difference tool compares two places and shows when the gap between them changes, and the meeting planner shows working hours across several cities at once.