Military Time Converter (24-Hour to 12-Hour and Back)

Reading military time

Military time counts the hours of the day from 0000 (midnight) to 2359, with no AM or PM. The first two digits are the hour and the last two are the minutes. Up to noon it matches the ordinary clock (0900 is 9:00 AM); after noon, subtract 12 from the hour to get the PM time (1730 is 5:30 PM). Hospitals, the military, transport and many payroll time clocks use it because it removes the AM/PM ambiguity from records.

Worked example (pre-filled). 1730 converts to 5:30 PM. In the other direction, 8:15 AM is 0815, written with a colon as 08:15 on most digital clocks. The chart lists every hour.

On a time card, the 24-hour format also makes the arithmetic easier: a shift from 0745 to 1615 is 16:15 minus 07:45, which is 8 hours 30 minutes, with no need to add 12 to the afternoon time. The hours calculator accepts times in either format and does the subtraction, and the decimal converter turns the result into payroll hours.

Formula and assumptions

• Midnight is 0000 (start of day); 2400 is sometimes used for the end of a day and is not accepted here.
• Minutes are identical in both systems.

Related calculators

• All time & hours calculators
• Hours calculator: Hours and minutes between two times, with a break and overnight shifts
• Hours to decimal converter: Convert hours and minutes to decimal hours for payroll, and back
• Time clock rounding calculator: What a punch becomes under 5-, 6- or 15-minute (7-minute rule) rounding
• Georgia paycheck calculator: take-home pay after federal, FICA and Georgia tax
• Salary to hourly conversion

Sources

1. 29 CFR 785.48, Use of time clocks (rounding practices), via Cornell LII

This calculator gives general estimates from the figures you enter. It is not tax, legal, payroll or financial advice. See our disclaimer.