Military time converter 🪖

How to convert military time and standard time

Military time is the 24-hour clock written as four digits with no colon. The day runs from 0000 to 2359, so every time has one meaning and no AM or PM is needed. The converter works in both directions and shows the result as you type.

Using the converter

1. To go from military to standard, type the time in Military time (e.g. 1730). Three digits also work once you leave the box: 930 is read as 0930. A colon is ignored, so 17:30 works too.
2. To go the other way, set the hour, minutes and AM/PM in Standard time. How this box looks depends on your browser and device settings.
3. Read the results under Standard and Military. The line below them shows one way to say the time out loud.
4. Below that is a chart of every whole hour. Press Ctrl+P (Cmd+P on a Mac) to print it. Only the chart is printed, so it makes a handy reference sheet for a desk or nurses' station.

The converter only accepts hours 00 to 23 and minutes 00 to 59. If you type something outside that range, such as 2400 or 1275, the results clear and a note under them explains what to enter.

The conversion rule

Standard to military:

• 12:00 AM to 12:59 AM: change the 12 to 00. 12:30 AM becomes 0030.
• 1:00 AM to 11:59 AM: drop the colon and add a leading zero if needed. 9:15 AM becomes 0915.
• 12:00 PM to 12:59 PM: just drop the colon. 12:45 PM becomes 1245.
• 1:00 PM to 11:59 PM: add 12 to the hour. 5:30 PM becomes 1730.

Military to standard: for 0000 to 0059, the hour is 12 AM. For 0100 to 1159, it is AM; drop the leading zero and add a colon. For 1200 to 1259, it is PM. For 1300 to 2359, subtract 12 and use PM, so 2145 becomes 9:45 PM.

Conversion table for tricky times

Midnight: 0000 or 2400?

0000 is midnight at the start of a day. 2400 is sometimes used for midnight at the end of a day. It is the same moment as 0000 on the next day, written from the other side. NIST suggests 0000 for the start of a day and 2400 for the end. Many style guides avoid 2400 and use 2359 or 0001 instead, which makes it clear which date is meant. This converter treats midnight as 0000 and does not accept 2400.

The 24-hour clock also avoids the "12 AM or 12 PM?" problem. NIST calls 12 a.m. and 12 p.m. ambiguous and recommends writing "noon" or "midnight" instead. In military time, noon is simply 1200 and midnight is 0000.

How to say it

• Say the leading zero: 0900 is "zero nine hundred" and 0630 is "zero six thirty". Some people say "oh" instead of "zero".
• Whole hours use "hundred", never "thousand": 2000 is "twenty hundred", not "two thousand".
• "Hours" is often added in formal speech, as in "fourteen hundred hours".
• In military messages, a letter after the time names the time zone. Z (Zulu) means UTC.

Common mistakes

• Adding 12 to 12 PM. 12:30 PM is 1230, not 2430.
• Writing 12:30 AM as 1230. Half past midnight is 0030.
• Dropping the leading zero. Write 0930, not 930, on forms and logs so every time has four digits.
• Adding a colon. Civilian 24-hour time is often written 17:30. Military style is 1730.
• Doing math in your head across midnight. To find how long a shift from 2200 to 0600 lasts, use the hours calculator. For times in another zone, use the time zone converter.