Military Time Converter

Convert military time to and from the 12-hour AM/PM clock in one place.

Military time (24-hour)

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How to use this tool

This military time converter works in both directions. Pick the tab that matches what you have:

  1. To go from a normal clock to military time, choose 12-hour to 24h, set the hour, minutes, and AM or PM, then press Convert to 24-hour.
  2. To read a military time back as a normal clock, choose 24h to 12-hour, type the time as 1830 or 18:30, then press Convert to 12-hour.
  3. Use the Use current time button to fill the inputs with the time on your device, then copy the result with one click.

How the 24-hour clock works

The 24-hour clock, often called military time, counts the hours of the day from 0 to 23 instead of restarting at 12 with AM and PM. Midnight is hour 0, the morning hours match the AM hours, and after noon you add 12 to the PM hour. There is no colon in the strict military style, so 6:30 in the evening is written and spoken as eighteen thirty, or 1830 hours.

12-hour to 24-hour: 12:MM AM -> 00:MM 1-11 AM -> same hour, 01..11 12:MM PM -> 12:MM 1-11 PM -> hour + 12 (13..23) 24-hour to 12-hour: 00:MM -> 12:MM AM 01-11 -> same hour AM 12:MM -> 12:MM PM 13-23 -> hour - 12 PM

The two tricky cases are the midnight and noon hours. Twelve at night becomes 0000 (or 2400 at the very end of a day), and twelve noon stays 1200. Every other hour follows the simple add-12 or subtract-12 rule above.

A real example

Say a flight is scheduled to depart at 7:45 PM. To convert that PM time, you take the hour 7, add 12 to get 19, and keep the minutes, which gives 1945. Spoken aloud that is nineteen forty-five. Going the other way, if a shift starts at 0600 you keep the hour as 6, and because it is under 12 it stays in the morning, so 0600 is simply 6:00 AM.

Quick reference chart

12-hour24-hour12-hour24-hour
12:00 AM (midnight)000012:00 PM (noon)1200
1:00 AM01001:00 PM1300
2:00 AM02002:00 PM1400
3:00 AM03003:00 PM1500
4:00 AM04004:00 PM1600
5:00 AM05005:00 PM1700
6:00 AM06006:00 PM1800
7:00 AM07007:00 PM1900
8:00 AM08008:00 PM2000
9:00 AM09009:00 PM2100
10:00 AM100010:00 PM2200
11:00 AM110011:00 PM2300

Common questions

What is midnight in military time?

Midnight is normally written as 0000 and read as zero hundred hours, marking the start of a new day. The very end of a day can also be written as 2400, but 0000 is the more common form for the start of the day.

How do I convert PM time to military time?

For any hour from 1 PM to 11 PM, add 12 to the hour and keep the minutes. For example 4:20 PM becomes 1620. The one exception is 12 PM (noon), which stays as 1200.

Why does the 24-hour clock not use AM and PM?

Because every hour of the day has its own number from 0 to 23, there is no ambiguity between morning and afternoon, so AM and PM are not needed. This is why the military, hospitals, aviation, and much of the world prefer the 24-hour clock.

Is military time the same as the 24-hour clock?

They use the same hours, but the formatting differs slightly. The 24-hour clock often keeps a colon, like 18:30, while strict military style drops it and reads it as eighteen thirty or 1830 hours. This tool accepts both styles for the 24-hour input.

How do I read 1830 out loud?

You say it as eighteen thirty, or eighteen hundred thirty hours. In standard time that is 6:30 PM.

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