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Military Time Converter
Convert between 24-hour and 12-hour time, live — with the full chart.
Updated July 8, 2026
How to use the military time converter
- 1Type a military time like 1730 to see it in standard form.
- 2Or type a standard time like 5:30 pm to get the 24-hour form.
- 3Check the live clock for the current time in both systems.
- 4Open the chart for all 24 hours at a glance.
Common uses
- Reading a work schedule or orders written in 24-hour time
- Converting appointment times from medical or military paperwork
- Learning the system before a healthcare, aviation, or service job
- Settling the midnight-is-0000 argument with a chart
Frequently asked questions
What's the one rule to remember?
From 1:00 PM onward, add 12 to the hour: 5:30 PM is 1730, 11:00 PM is 2300. Morning hours just get zero-padded: 9:15 AM is 0915. Coming back, any military hour of 13 or more loses 12 and becomes PM.
Is midnight 0000 or 2400?
0000 is the standard — it begins the new day. Some military and scheduling contexts write 2400 to mean end-of-day on the previous date (a shift 'until 2400 Friday'), but as a moment on the clock it's the same instant as 0000 Saturday. This tool uses 0000.
How is military time spoken aloud?
Without the colon: 1730 is 'seventeen thirty'. Even hours take 'hundred' — 0900 is 'zero nine hundred', 1400 is 'fourteen hundred'. In strict military radio usage a time zone letter follows, most famously Z for UTC ('Zulu time').
Why do hospitals and pilots insist on it?
Because 12-hour time has a built-in failure mode: 12:00 AM vs PM confuses people constantly, and a smudged or missing AM/PM on a chart is a 12-hour medication error waiting to happen. A 24-hour timestamp is unambiguous with no annotation — that's the entire argument, and it's a good one.
About this tool
The military time converter translates both directions as you type — 1730 to 5:30 PM, 9:15 am to 0915 — with a live clock showing the current time in both systems and a full 24-hour reference chart. It also covers the two conversions everyone stumbles on: midnight is 0000 (starting the new day) and noon is 1200, with no 12 AM/PM ambiguity — which is exactly why hospitals, aviation, and the military use the format, and why it's simply the everyday clock in most of the world.
Like most tools on UtilityBase, the military time converter runs entirely in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded or stored on a server. It's free to use with no account required. Browse more calculators here.
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