Time Zone Converter
Convert a time between cities and see the UTC offset each one is currently on.
Every zone is described as an offset from UTC. New York is UTC−5 in winter and UTC−4 on daylight saving time; London is UTC+0 and UTC+1; Tokyo is UTC+9 all year and never changes.
By Piero Nanni · Last checked
Time Zone Converter
UTC is the reference the whole system hangs off, and it does not observe daylight saving. A time zone is an offset from it, and a place is on one offset for part of the year and possibly another for the rest, which is why "GMT+1" describes a moment rather than a location. London is on UTC+0 in January and UTC+1 in July, and both are correct.
The converter below uses your browser’s own time zone database, so it applies the right offset for the date you enter rather than today’s. That matters near the transition dates: a meeting arranged in March between Europe and the United States can shift by an hour, because the two regions change on different weekends.
Standard and daylight offsets for major zones
Standard offset applies in the local winter. Southern-hemisphere zones run the opposite way round.
| Zone | Standard | Daylight | Observes DST |
|---|---|---|---|
| UTC | UTC+0 | UTC+0 | No |
| London | UTC+0 | UTC+1 | Yes |
| Paris, Berlin, Madrid | UTC+1 | UTC+2 | Yes |
| Athens, Helsinki | UTC+2 | UTC+3 | Yes |
| Moscow | UTC+3 | UTC+3 | No |
| Dubai | UTC+4 | UTC+4 | No |
| India | UTC+5:30 | UTC+5:30 | No |
| Singapore, Hong Kong | UTC+8 | UTC+8 | No |
| Tokyo, Seoul | UTC+9 | UTC+9 | No |
| Sydney | UTC+10 | UTC+11 | Yes |
| Auckland | UTC+12 | UTC+13 | Yes |
| New York (Eastern) | UTC−5 | UTC−4 | Yes |
| Chicago (Central) | UTC−6 | UTC−5 | Yes |
| Denver (Mountain) | UTC−7 | UTC−6 | Yes |
| Phoenix | UTC−7 | UTC−7 | No |
| Los Angeles (Pacific) | UTC−8 | UTC−7 | Yes |
| São Paulo | UTC−3 | UTC−3 | No |
Why the gap between two cities is not fixed
New York is five hours behind London for most of the year, but for two short windows it is four. Europe moves to summer time on the last Sunday in March and the United States on the second Sunday in March, so for three weeks the usual gap is off by an hour. The same happens in reverse in the autumn.
Southern-hemisphere zones move the opposite way, so the gap between London and Sydney swings between nine and eleven hours over the year. Anything scheduled recurringly across hemispheres will drift unless it is pinned to one side’s local time and allowed to move on the other.
Zones that are not whole hours
India is UTC+5:30, Nepal UTC+5:45, Iran UTC+3:30, and parts of Australia UTC+9:30. Chatham Islands is UTC+12:45. These exist because a zone is a political choice about which solar time a country wants to sit near, not a division of the globe into 24 equal slices.
Half-hour offsets break naive scheduling code that assumes whole hours, and they break mental arithmetic even more reliably. When a meeting involves India or Nepal, write out the local times explicitly rather than counting hours.
Naming: GMT, UTC, EST and the rest
UTC is the modern standard, defined by atomic clocks and kept within a second of solar time by leap seconds. GMT is the older astronomical standard and, in practice, identical for civil purposes. Britain uses GMT as a zone name in winter and BST in summer.
American abbreviations name a specific offset, not a region: EST is UTC−5 and EDT is UTC−4, so New York is on EST in January and EDT in July. Writing "3pm EST" in June is a common error that means either 3pm EDT or 4pm EDT depending on what was intended.
Frequently Asked Questions
What time zone is UTC?
UTC is the reference itself, offset zero. It does not observe daylight saving time.
How many hours behind London is New York?
Five hours for most of the year, four for the few weeks when the two regions have changed clocks on different dates.
Does Japan use daylight saving time?
No. Japan is UTC+9 all year round, as are China, India and most of the tropics.
What is the difference between GMT and UTC?
UTC is the atomic-clock standard and GMT the older astronomical one. For civil timekeeping they are the same.
Why is India UTC+5:30?
The offset was chosen to sit near the solar time of a meridian through central India, which falls on a half hour.