Convert military time to standard time and back. Bidirectional 24-hour to 12-hour AM/PM converter with pronunciation and full conversion chart.
Date & Time
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Military Time Converter, Date & Time, Convert military time to standard time and back. Bidirectional 24-hour to 12-hour AM/PM converter with pronunciation and full conversion chart., 24 hour to 12 hour, military clock, 24h time conversion, convert, conversion, unit
Military Time Converter
Convert military time to standard time and back. Bidirectional 24-hour to 12-hour AM/PM converter with pronunciation and full conversion chart.
24 hour to 12 hour, military clock, 24h time conversion
Date & Time global
Military Time Converter, Date & Time, Convert military time to standard time and back. Bidirectional 24-hour to 12-hour AM/PM converter with pronunciation and full conversion chart., 24 hour to 12 hour, military clock, 24h time conversion, convert, conversion, unit
Military Time Converter
Convert military time to standard time and back. Bidirectional 24-hour to 12-hour AM/PM converter with pronunciation and full conversion chart.
PM: hour + 12 · AM 12 = 0000
Military Time
1430
Fourteen Thirty Hours
All Formats
Your time in every notation
2:30 PM
Standard (12-hr)
1430
Military
14:30
24-hour
Military Time Chart
Quick reference for all 24 hours
0000
12 AM
0100
1 AM
0200
2 AM
0300
3 AM
0400
4 AM
0500
5 AM
0600
6 AM
0700
7 AM
0800
8 AM
0900
9 AM
1000
10 AM
1100
11 AM
1200
12 PM
1300
1 PM
1400
2 PM
1500
3 PM
1600
4 PM
1700
5 PM
1800
6 PM
1900
7 PM
2000
8 PM
2100
9 PM
2200
10 PM
2300
11 PM
How to Convert Military Time
The rules and formulas for converting between 12-hour and 24-hour time
Military time (also called the 24-hour clock) counts hours from 0000 (midnight) to 2359 (11:59 PM). It eliminates the ambiguity of AM and PM by using a continuous count from 0 to 23 for hours.
Military time is written without a colon (e.g., 1430), while standard 24-hour time uses a colon (14:30). Military time is also spoken differently: "fourteen thirty hours" vs "fourteen thirty."
Quick Conversion Examples
Common times and their equivalents in all three formats
Standard
Military
How to Say It
12:00 AM
0000
Zero Hundred Hours
6:30 AM
0630
Zero Six Thirty Hours
9:00 AM
0900
Zero Nine Hundred Hours
12:00 PM
1200
Twelve Hundred Hours
1:00 PM
1300
Thirteen Hundred Hours
3:45 PM
1545
Fifteen Forty-Five Hours
5:00 PM
1700
Seventeen Hundred Hours
8:15 PM
2015
Twenty Fifteen Hours
11:59 PM
2359
Twenty-Three Fifty-Nine Hours
Who Uses Military Time
Industries and organizations that rely on the 24-hour clock
Military & Defense
All branches of the U.S. military, NATO, and most armed forces worldwide use 24-hour time to avoid AM/PM confusion in orders and operations.
Aviation & Air Traffic
Pilots, flight dispatchers, and air traffic controllers use military time (with Zulu/UTC) for all communications and flight plans globally.
Healthcare & Hospitals
Nurses, doctors, and pharmacists chart medications and procedures in 24-hour time to prevent life-threatening AM/PM dosing errors.
Emergency Services
Police, fire, and EMS dispatchers log all incidents in military time for precise, unambiguous records in reports and court proceedings.
Common Mistakes When Converting Military Time
Avoid these frequent errors when working with 24-hour time
Confusing 0000 and 2400
Both represent midnight, but 0000 is the start of a new day and 2400 is the end of the previous day. Most systems use 0000. The military uses 0000 for the beginning and 2400 for the end of a day.
Forgetting to subtract 12 for PM hours
1700 is not 7:00 AM — it is 5:00 PM (17 − 12 = 5). Always subtract 12 from hours 13 through 23 to get the standard time. A quick trick: subtract 2 from the last digit (17 → 5, 18 → 6).
Mixing up midnight and noon
12:00 AM (midnight) = 0000 military time. 12:00 PM (noon) = 1200 military time. These are the most commonly confused conversions.
Adding a colon to military time
Military time is written as four digits without a colon (1430, not 14:30). The colon format is 24-hour time, not military time. Both represent the same clock position, but the notation differs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about military time conversion, notation, and usage
For hours 00–12, keep the same hour (00 becomes 12 AM, 01–11 stays the same as AM, 12 stays as 12 PM). For hours 13–23, subtract 12 and add PM. For example: 1430 → 14 − 12 = 2, so 2:30 PM. 0830 stays as 8:30 AM. 0000 = 12:00 AM (midnight). 1200 = 12:00 PM (noon).
For AM times, keep the hour and add a leading zero if needed (9:00 AM = 0900, 11:30 AM = 1130). 12:00 AM (midnight) = 0000. For PM times, add 12 to the hour (1:00 PM = 1300, 5:45 PM = 1745). 12:00 PM (noon) = 1200. Always use 4 digits with no colon.
1700 in military time is 5:00 PM in standard time. To convert: take the hour (17), subtract 12, and you get 5. Since 17 is greater than 12, it is PM. A quick shortcut for any military time over 1200: subtract 1200 to get the PM equivalent (1700 − 1200 = 500 → 5:00 PM).
Military time and 24-hour time represent the same hours and minutes, but differ in notation. Military time uses 4 digits without a colon (1430) and is spoken as 'fourteen thirty hours.' 24-hour time uses a colon (14:30) and is the standard format in most countries outside the US. Military time also uses letter suffixes for time zones (e.g., 1430Z for Zulu/UTC time).
Both are used, but in different contexts. 0000 represents the start of a new day (midnight at the beginning). 2400 represents the end of a day (midnight at the conclusion). Most digital systems and the military default to 0000 for midnight. For example, a shift ending at midnight would be logged as ending at 2400, while a shift starting at midnight would begin at 0000.
Military time is spoken by reading the four digits as pairs. 0800 is 'zero eight hundred hours.' 1430 is 'fourteen thirty hours.' 0015 is 'zero zero fifteen hours.' When the minutes are 00, say 'hundred hours' (e.g., 1700 = 'seventeen hundred hours'). Single-digit hours get a leading 'zero' (0900 = 'zero nine hundred hours').
The military uses 24-hour time to eliminate the ambiguity of AM and PM, which could lead to dangerous miscommunications in operations. If an order says '0800,' there is no question whether it means morning or evening. This is critical for coordinating across time zones, scheduling operations, and maintaining accurate logs. Most militaries worldwide, as well as aviation, healthcare, and emergency services, use 24-hour time for the same reason.
Most countries worldwide use 24-hour time as their standard format, including all of Europe, most of Asia, Africa, and South America. The United States, Canada, Australia, and the Philippines are among the few countries that primarily use 12-hour AM/PM time in everyday life, though even these countries use 24-hour time in military, aviation, healthcare, and other professional contexts.
In Excel, use the TEXT function: =TEXT(TIME(LEFT(A1,2), RIGHT(A1,2), 0), 'h:mm AM/PM') where A1 contains the 4-digit military time as text. To go the other way (standard to military), format the cell as 'HHmm' or use =TEXT(A1, 'HHmm'). Make sure military time values are stored as text (prefix with apostrophe) to preserve leading zeros like 0830.
3:00 PM in military time is 1500 (spoken as 'fifteen hundred hours'). To convert any PM time to military: add 12 to the hour. 3 + 12 = 15, so 3:00 PM = 1500. With minutes: 3:45 PM = 1545. Remember, 12:00 PM (noon) is the exception — it stays as 1200, not 2400.
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