How to use the time zone converter
Step 1 — Set the moment you want to convert
The date and time field opens on now, so converting “right now” needs no input at all. Your current local time is shown underneath, ticking, with your detected zone and UTC offset — useful for confirming the tool guessed your location correctly before you rely on the answer.
Step 2 — Choose the cities by typing, not scrolling
The Convert From and Convert To fields search as you type and understand far more than official zone names. Try sydney, india, PST, england, bengaluru, NYC or GMT — city names, country names and common abbreviations all resolve. Each suggestion shows that zone’s current local time and UTC offset so you can sanity-check before selecting. Click a field before typing to get the ten most-used zones, or use the full dropdown underneath to browse by region.
Step 3 — Compare more than two places
Most real scheduling is not A to B. Tap any of the popular zone chips and that city joins the comparison, so one moment appears in four or five places at once. Chips grey out once a zone is already on screen, so the same city cannot be added twice. The swap button between the two main fields flips the pair instantly.
Step 4 — Find a time that suits everyone
Below the results is a 24-hour strip for every selected zone. Working hours are shaded green, night hours grey, and any hour inside working hours in every zone is outlined — those are the slots worth proposing. Set your own working day at the top: a team starting at 08:00 gets different answers from one starting at 10:00. When no hour suits everyone the tool says so plainly, because that is itself the answer.
Reading the daylight saving warnings
Every result card names whether that zone is on standard or daylight time at the instant you converted, and the date its clocks next change. This is what tells you a recurring meeting is about to drift — a weekly call booked in March silently shifts for one end of the call when the clocks move.
Taking the result with you
Copy the converted times as text, download an .ics calendar file that places the meeting at the correct instant regardless of the recipient’s zone, or copy a share link that reopens the tool with the same date, cities and comparison already loaded.
About the time zone converter
This tool converts a date and time from one place to another across every zone in the IANA time zone database — 419 of them on a current browser. It is built for the moment you actually need it: scheduling a call with someone in another country, working out what time a webinar starts where you are, or checking whether it is a reasonable hour to phone a colleague abroad.
What separates a real converter from mental arithmetic is that time zones are not fixed offsets. They change twice a year in about a third of the world, on dates that differ by country, and around 1.5 billion people live in zones that are not a whole number of hours from UTC. The tool reads the rules from the same IANA database your operating system uses, so the answer is correct for the specific date you enter rather than for today.
Beyond straight conversion it does two things a simple converter does not: it compares several cities at once, and it finds the hours that work for everyone through a meeting overlap planner. Everything runs in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded, and the tool keeps working offline once the page has loaded.
Who this is for
- Distributed teams arranging a stand-up or review that has to suit three or four countries at once.
- Freelancers and agencies working with overseas clients, where getting the hour wrong costs a meeting.
- Travellers checking arrival times, connections and whether it is a civil hour to call home.
- Anyone joining a webinar or live stream announced in a zone that is not their own.
What each result card tells you
Input time
The moment you entered, in the source zone, with its UTC offset and whether that zone is on standard or daylight saving time at that instant.
Converted time
The same instant expressed in the destination zone — the answer you came for. If the conversion crosses midnight the card is flagged Next day or Previous day, which is the single most common cause of a missed international meeting.
Time difference
The exact gap, written as hours and minutes rather than a decimal — +4h 30m, not “+4.5 hours” — because half-hour and 45-minute zones make decimals easy to misread.
Your local time
What time it is right now where you are, updating every second, so you can judge whether the proposed slot suits you without doing a second conversion.
Next clock change
The date that zone’s clocks next move. A recurring meeting that works today may not in three weeks, and this is the field that warns you.
Why converting time zones is harder than adding hours
Daylight saving moves the answer twice a year
London is UTC+0 in January and UTC+1 in July. New York is UTC−5 then UTC−4. Because the two countries change on different dates, there are two short windows each year when the usual five-hour gap between them is four hours instead. A weekly call booked in March quietly shifts for the people at one end, and the calendar invite will not warn anyone.
Not every offset is a whole hour
India is UTC+5:30, Nepal UTC+5:45, Iran UTC+3:30 and Adelaide UTC+9:30. Rounding any of these to the nearest hour puts you 30 to 45 minutes out, which is enough to miss the start of a call.
The date can change
10:00 Monday in Los Angeles is already Tuesday in Tokyo. Across the widest pairs the gap reaches a full calendar day, and forgetting it is how meetings get booked for the wrong date entirely.
Country names are not time zones
The United States spans six zones, Australia five, Russia eleven. “US time” and “Australian time” are not answers, which is why the IANA database is keyed by city — America/New_York, not America/USA. Always pick the city.
Abbreviations are ambiguous
IST means Indian Standard Time, Irish Standard Time and Israel Standard Time. CST means Central Standard Time in the US, China Standard Time and Cuba Standard Time. This tool resolves the most commonly meant one first but still lists the alternatives, so you can choose deliberately.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert a time to my own time zone?
Your zone is detected and pre-filled automatically. Set the source city and the moment, then read your local time from the results — nothing needs configuring first.
What is the time difference between India and the USA?
It depends on which part of the USA and on the month, because India does not observe daylight saving and the USA does. India is 9 hours 30 minutes ahead of New York in US summer and 10 hours 30 minutes ahead in winter. Against Los Angeles it is 12 hours 30 minutes and 13 hours 30 minutes. Enter both cities with the actual date and the correct rule is applied.
What time is it in Sydney, London or New York right now?
Add the city as a comparison chip and its current time appears immediately, with its UTC offset and daylight saving status. The search box also shows live local times beside every suggestion as you type.
Does it handle daylight saving automatically?
Yes, and for the date you enter rather than today’s rules. Convert a meeting in November and the November rules apply, even if you are planning it in August.
Does it support half-hour zones like India at UTC+5:30?
Yes, along with 45-minute zones such as Nepal (UTC+5:45) and the Chatham Islands (UTC+12:45). Offsets come from your device’s IANA database, so nothing is rounded.
Can the converted time land on a different date?
Often, once the gap exceeds a few hours. When it does, the card is marked Next day or Previous day and the full date is shown alongside the time.
How do I find a meeting time that works across three or four countries?
Add each city as a chip, set your working day, and read the overlap planner. Hours inside working hours everywhere are outlined, and the best slots are listed underneath in plain text in your source city’s time.
What is UTC, and how is it different from GMT?
UTC is the modern time standard all zones are defined against. GMT is a time zone that happens to equal UTC+0 in winter and UTC+1 during British summer time. In casual use they are treated as the same thing; in software, offsets are always expressed against UTC.
How many time zones are there?
Around 38 distinct UTC offsets are in use, but the IANA database defines 419 named zones, because places sharing an offset can still have different daylight saving rules and different histories. This tool covers all of them.
Can I share a converted time with someone?
Two ways. Copy the share link, which reopens the tool with the same moment and cities loaded, or download the .ics file — a calendar entry stores the underlying instant, so it appears at the right local time for whoever opens it.
Where does the conversion run, and is my data private?
Entirely in your browser, using the time zone database your operating system already ships with. Nothing you enter is uploaded, and the tool keeps working offline once the page has loaded.
