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

Every hour of the day, from midnight (0000) through 2300. For times between the hours, keep the same minutes: if 1700 is 5:00 PM, then 1745 is 5:45 PM.

Military time is written as four digits with no colon and no AM or PM. The first two digits are the hour, counted from 00 to 23, and the last two are the minutes. So 0730 is 7:30 in the morning and 1945 is 7:45 in the evening. Saying it follows a simple pattern: leading zeros are spoken as "zero" (0700 is "zero seven hundred hours"), times on the hour use "hundred hours" (1700 is "seventeen hundred hours"), and other times just read the digits (1730 is "seventeen thirty hours").

The day starts at midnight, written 0000 — though some duty schedules write the end of a day as 2400, which names the same moment. Noon is 1200. For afternoon and evening times, the trick is twelve: any military hour of 13 or more, subtract 12 and add PM (1700 − 12 = 5:00 PM), and any PM time, add 12 to the hour to get military (5:00 PM + 12 = 1700).

The armed forces are the best-known users, but they are far from the only ones. Aviation runs entirely on the 24-hour clock — flight plans, control towers, and schedules all use it. Hospitals and healthcare systems chart medications and procedures in 24-hour time, and emergency services log calls and dispatch times the same way. Outside the United States, most of the world writes everyday times on the 24-hour clock, even where people say "7 in the evening" aloud. The reason is the same everywhere: with AM and PM, "8:00" can mean two different times twelve hours apart, and one smudged or misheard letter changes which. A single 0-to-23 hour count makes every written time unambiguous — which matters when a dose, a departure, or an operation depends on it.

Working with times once they are converted? Add and subtract hours and minutes with the time calculator, or total a week of shifts with the time card calculator.