Military Time Converter
Convert between military time (24-hour) and standard time (12-hour AM/PM) — both directions, live.
Both formats convert in your browser — no upload, no accountConvert military time to regular AM/PM time — and back
Military time right now:(your device clock)
About this military time converter
Quick answer: military time is the 24-hour clock written as four digits with no colon — 0830, 1400, 2215. To convert it to regular time, look at the first two digits. If they are 13 or more, subtract 12 and add PM (1900 → 7:00 PM, 2030 → 8:30 PM); if they are below 12, it is AM as written (0830 → 8:30 AM). The two special cases are 0000, which is midnight (12:00 AM), and 1200, which is noon (12:00 PM). The current military time is shown live above the converter, read from your device clock.
Type a standard 12-hour time on the left ("8:30 AM", "12:45 PM") to see its military 24-hour form on the right ("0830", "1245"), or type military time on the right to see standard time on the left. The fields are live-linked in both directions and the "Now" button drops in the current time so you can see what today's reading looks like in the other format.
Military time uses a four-digit HHMM notation with no colon and no AM/PM: 0000 is midnight, 0600 is 6 in the morning, 1200 is noon, 1800 is 6 in the evening, 2359 is one minute before the next midnight. The 24-hour clock itself is standard in most of the world — the US and a few English-speaking countries are the outliers using AM/PM in everyday life — and the "military" name simply reflects the US convention of adopting it inside the armed forces and emergency services while the wider civilian day stays on 12-hour.
The two hours that confuse everyone are 12 AM and 12 PM. 12 AM is midnight — the start of the day — which is 0000 (some manuals also allow 2400 for the same instant seen as the end of the previous day, and this tool accepts both). 12 PM is noon, which is 1200. The mistake pattern is treating the letters as ordinal — "12 AM must be earlier than 1 AM" — when in fact the sequence is 12 AM (midnight) → 1 AM → 2 AM → … → 11 AM → 12 PM (noon) → 1 PM → …
The parser is deliberately forgiving on input and strict on output. It accepts "8:30 am", "8:30 AM", "8:30AM", "815pm", "8 am", and "20:30" as valid standard-time inputs, and "0830", "830", "08:30", "8:30", "19" (just the hour), "1400 hrs" and "2400" as military inputs — but always returns the canonical form (with the colon in standard, without in military). If the input is malformed the tool tells you which of the two sides you gave it and what the format should look like, rather than silently guessing.
Everything runs in your browser: nothing is sent, nothing is logged, and there is no rate limit. That is the same architecture as the timesheet calculator on this site, which uses 24-hour time and is one click away in the related-tools panel below.
The complete 24-hour conversion chart
Every hour on the clock in both formats. Copy any row directly.
| 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 |
How to convert in your head
- Standard → military, morning: pad with a leading zero if needed. 8:15 AM → 0815, 11:45 AM → 1145.
- Standard → military, afternoon or evening: add 12 to the hour. 1:15 PM → 13:15 → 1315. 8:30 PM → 20:30 → 2030.
- The special cases: 12 AM (midnight) is 0000; 12 PM (noon) is 1200. Both keep the minutes as-is.
- Military → standard, before 1200: drop the leading zero if any and add AM. 0645 → 6:45 AM. 1130 → 11:30 AM.
- Military → standard, 1200: that is 12:00 PM (noon).
- Military → standard, 1300 to 2359: subtract 12 from the hour and add PM. 1330 → 1:30 PM. 2245 → 10:45 PM.
Common military time mistakes
| Mistake | Correct | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 12:30 AM → 1230 | 0030 | After midnight the hour restarts at 00; 1230 is 12:30 PM. |
| 12 PM (noon) → 0000 | 1200 | 12 PM is noon. 0000 is midnight. |
| 8:00 AM → 2000 | 0800 | Only PM hours from 1 PM to 11 PM get +12. |
| 1900 = 9 PM | 1900 = 7 PM | Subtract 12 (19 − 12 = 7) — do not just drop the 1. |
| 930 | 0930 | Always write four digits; the leading zero is part of the format. |
| 1400 PM | 1400 | Military time never carries AM or PM — the hour already says it. |
| 2400 for tonight | 0000 (tomorrow) | Both mark midnight; 0000 is the usual form and starts the new day. |
Convert in Excel, Google Sheets, or code
Excel and Google Sheets — TEXT() with a format string:
Standard 12-hour, given a time cell A2 (like 14:30):
=TEXT(A2, "h:mm AM/PM") → 2:30 PM
Military time from a time cell:
=TEXT(A2, "hhmm") → 1430
Parse a military string "1430" into a proper time:
=TIMEVALUE(LEFT("1430",2) & ":" & RIGHT("1430",2)) → 14:30 (as a time)
Python:
from datetime import datetime
datetime.strptime("2:30 PM", "%I:%M %p").strftime("%H%M") # "1430"
datetime.strptime("1430", "%H%M").strftime("%I:%M %p") # "02:30 PM"Reference tables
FAQ
Is 12 AM midnight or noon?
Midnight. The sequence goes 12 AM (midnight, start of the day) → 1 AM → 2 AM → … → 11 AM → 12 PM (noon) → 1 PM → … → 11 PM → 12 AM (next midnight). The mnemonic that works: A comes before P in the alphabet, and midnight comes before noon — so 12 AM is midnight and 12 PM is noon. In military time there is no ambiguity: 0000 is midnight, 1200 is noon.
What is military time right now?
It is shown live at the top of this page, read from your own device clock, and it updates on its own every minute. To work it out yourself, write the current hour on a 24-hour clock followed by the minutes, as four digits: 2:45 PM is 1445, 9:05 AM is 0905, 11:20 PM is 2320. Because it comes from your device, it is your local time. The military itself often reports times in UTC instead, written with a Z ("1445Z", said "Zulu"); the military time chart linked below lists the zone letters.
What is 8:30 PM in military time?
2030. To convert any afternoon or evening time from 12-hour to 24-hour, add 12 to the hour — 1 PM → 13, 4:30 PM → 16:30 → 1630, 8:30 PM → 20:30 → 2030. AM hours stay the same (with a leading zero for hours below 10: 6 AM → 0600). The two special cases are 12 AM = 0000 (subtract 12 from the hour) and 12 PM = 1200 (leave the hour alone).
What is 12:30 AM in military time?
0030. After midnight, military time starts again at 00: 12:05 AM is 0005, 12:30 AM is 0030, 12:59 AM is 0059, and 1:00 AM is 0100. The common mistake is writing 1230, which is actually 12:30 PM — half past noon. The same logic makes 12:12 PM simply 1212.
What is 2400 in standard time?
The same instant as 0000 — midnight. Some manuals use 2400 to denote "end of the day" for legal or scheduling clarity (a shift that ends 2400 on Tuesday is the same moment as one that starts 0000 on Wednesday). Most modern conventions prefer 0000 to avoid the visual confusion, but this tool accepts either and always displays the 0000 canonical form on output.
Why do some digital clocks display "13:45" instead of AM/PM?
That is the 24-hour clock — the same "military time" this tool converts to and from, just written with the colon that phones and computers add for readability. In text conversation and on printed schedules the colon usually stays; on radio and in military communication it drops off ("thirteen forty-five" or "one three four five"). Same time, different typographic conventions.
How do I change my computer or phone from military time to regular time?
It is a format setting, not a time setting. Windows 11: Settings → Time & language → Language & region → Regional format → Change formats, then set Short time to an option with "tt" (such as h:mm tt) — "tt" is the AM/PM marker, and the taskbar clock switches immediately. Mac: System Settings → General → Date & Time → turn off 24-hour time. iPhone: Settings → General → Date & Time → turn off 24-Hour Time. Android: Settings → System → Date & time → turn off Use 24-hour format (on Samsung it sits under General management). Doing the reverse puts the clock on military time.