Military Time Converter
Type a time in almost any format — 0930, 21:45, or 9:45 PM — and get the military or standard time instantly, plus how to say it out loud.
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Enter a time above to see the conversion.
Military time: the 24-hour clock explained
Military time is the common name for the 24-hour clock: instead of restarting at 1 after noon and using AM/PM, the hours simply keep counting from 0000 (midnight) through 2359 (11:59 PM). It's the standard in the US armed forces, most hospitals and EMS systems, transportation timetables, and almost every country outside North America, where the 24-hour clock is simply "the time" rather than a special format. This converter reads a time typed in either style and instantly shows the other, along with a full reference chart and how to say the result out loud.
How the conversion works
Military time is always written as four digits, HHMM, with no colon required (though 21:45 and 2145 mean the same thing). To go from military to standard time:
- 0000–0059 — midnight hour, written as 12:xx AM.
- 0100–1159 — same number, written as x:xx AM.
- 1200–1259 — noon hour, written as 12:xx PM.
- 1300–2359 — subtract 12 from the hour, written as x:xx PM.
- 2400 — a special case some schedules use for the very end of the day; see the FAQ.
To go the other way, from standard to military time: keep AM hours as-is except 12:xx AM, which becomes 00xx, and add 12 to PM hours except 12:xx PM, which stays 12xx. The converter above accepts loose formats on either side — with or without a colon, with a period instead of a colon, or with the AM/PM marker squeezed right against the digits — so 9.45pm, 9:45pm, and 9:45 PM all parse the same way.
Example 1 — afternoon hour. 1500 military time: since 15 is 13 or higher, subtract 12 to get 3, and the minutes (00) stay the same, giving 3:00 PM.
Example 2 — evening hour with minutes. 2130 military time: 21 − 12 = 9, minutes stay at 30, giving 9:30 PM. Said aloud, this is "twenty-one-thirty hours."
Example 3 — standard to military. 9:45 PM: since it's PM and not 12:xx, add 12 to 9 to get 21, keep the minutes, giving 2145.
Full 24-hour time chart
Every on-the-hour value, military time on the left of each pair and standard time on the right:
| Military | Standard | Military | Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0000 | 12:00 AM (midnight) | 1200 | 12:00 PM (noon) |
| 0100 | 1:00 AM | 1300 | 1:00 PM |
| 0200 | 2:00 AM | 1400 | 2:00 PM |
| 0300 | 3:00 AM | 1500 | 3:00 PM |
| 0400 | 4:00 AM | 1600 | 4:00 PM |
| 0500 | 5:00 AM | 1700 | 5:00 PM |
| 0600 | 6:00 AM | 1800 | 6:00 PM |
| 0700 | 7:00 AM | 1900 | 7:00 PM |
| 0800 | 8:00 AM | 2000 | 8:00 PM |
| 0900 | 9:00 AM | 2100 | 9:00 PM |
| 1000 | 10:00 AM | 2200 | 10:00 PM |
| 1100 | 11:00 AM | 2300 | 11:00 PM |
For minutes other than :00, add them straight across — 0930 is 9:30 AM, 1945 is 7:45 PM — since the minute digits never change between the two formats, only the hour does.
How to say military time out loud
Military time is spoken in pairs of digits rather than as one long number. When the minutes are 00, the word "hundred" stands in for them: 0900 is "oh-nine-hundred" (or "zero-nine-hundred"), and 1500 is "fifteen-hundred." When there are minutes, they're read as their own two-digit number: 0930 is "oh-nine-thirty," and 2145 is "twenty-one-forty-five." Hours below 10 are typically prefixed with "oh," while 10 and above are read as ordinary numbers. The word "hours" is often appended at the end in formal contexts — "twenty-one-thirty hours."
Common mistakes to avoid
- Forgetting to subtract 12 for PM hours. 1800 is not "18:00 PM" — it's simply 6:00 PM, since the hour digits already encode AM/PM.
- Treating 1200 as midnight. 1200 is noon (12:00 PM); midnight is 0000, not 1200 or 2400 in most everyday use.
- Mixing up 0000 and 2400. Both mean midnight, but 0000 starts a day and 2400 (when used) ends one — see the FAQ for the full explanation.
- Assuming a leading zero is optional everywhere. 0900 and 900 mean the same thing to a human reader, but always write all four digits in formal logs and schedules to avoid ambiguity.
Sources & further reading
Frequently asked questions
What is 2130 in normal time?
2130 in military time is 9:30 PM in standard 12-hour time. To convert, subtract 12 from the hour whenever it's 13 or higher: 21 − 12 = 9, and the minutes (30) stay the same, so 2130 becomes 9:30 PM. Enter 2130 into the Military → Standard field above to see this — and any other military time — converted instantly.
What is 1500 military time?
1500 military time is 3:00 PM. The rule is the same for any hour from 1300 to 2359: subtract 12 from the first two digits to get the standard hour, and keep the last two digits as the minutes. 1500 minus 1200 leaves 300, which reads as 3:00, and since the original hour (15) was 13 or greater the result is PM.
What's the difference between 0000 and 2400 in military time?
Both 0000 and 2400 represent midnight, but they mark opposite ends of the same day. 0000 is the very first moment of a day (12:00 AM), typically used as a start time. 2400 is the very last moment of that same day, used as an end time — such as store hours listed as 'open until 2400.' 2400 is written far less often than 0000 in practice, and this converter treats a typed 2400 as midnight while noting that it marks the end of the day.
How do you say military time out loud?
Each pair of digits is read as a number, and 'hundred' replaces the minutes when they're 00. So 0900 is said 'oh-nine-hundred,' and 2130 is said 'twenty-one-thirty.' Hours under 10 are usually prefixed with 'oh' — 0930 becomes 'oh-nine-thirty' — while 10 and above are read as ordinary numbers. The converter above shows this spoken form under every result, so you can check any time at a glance.
Is my time data sent to a server?
No. This military time converter runs entirely in your browser — the time you type and every conversion stay on your device and are never uploaded or stored on a server. Your last input is saved only in your browser's local storage, so the tool remembers it the next time you open the page.