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Timezone Translator — Convert Time Between Timezones

Translate times between UTC, EST, PST, IST and 500+ IANA timezones. DST-aware, 100% browser-based.

100% in-browserNo signupFree forever

Advanced Timezone Translator

Convert times across timezones, epoch timestamps to human-readable format, and UTC to any timezone. Perfect for scheduling meetings, debugging timestamps, and timezone conversions.

Selected Cities

Quick Team Presets

New York
London
Tokyo

What Is a Timezone Converter?

A timezone converter translates a specific date and time from one timezone to its equivalent in another, accounting for UTC offsets and Daylight Saving Time (DST) rules. UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) is the global reference — every timezone is defined as an offset from UTC, such as UTC-5 for Eastern Standard Time or UTC+5:30 for India Standard Time.

Modern applications use IANA timezone names (e.g., America/New_York, Asia/Kolkata) rather than abbreviations like EST or IST, because abbreviations are ambiguous — IST can mean India Standard Time, Irish Standard Time, or Israel Standard Time. DST complicates matters further: the same timezone name maps to a different UTC offset in summer vs. winter. This tool handles all of that automatically using the IANA timezone database.

How it works

Convert Timezones in Seconds

01

Enter a Date & Time

Type or pick a date and time. The tool defaults to now in your local timezone, which you can adjust freely.

02

Select Source Timezone

Choose the timezone the input time belongs to. Search by city name, abbreviation (EST, PST), or IANA name.

03

Add Target Timezones

Add one or more target timezones to see the converted time for each. DST shifts are applied automatically based on the date.

04

Copy or Share

Copy converted times individually or share a permalink so teammates see the same conversion without doing the math themselves.

Common Timezone Reference

Quick reference for the most common timezones used by developers and remote teams. Offsets shown for standard time (winter) / daylight time (summer) where applicable.

AbbreviationUTC OffsetIANA NameRegion
UTC+0:00Etc/UTCUniversal
EST / EDT-5:00 / -4:00America/New_YorkUS East Coast
PST / PDT-8:00 / -7:00America/Los_AngelesUS West Coast
CST / CDT-6:00 / -5:00America/ChicagoUS Central
IST+5:30Asia/KolkataIndia
JST+9:00Asia/TokyoJapan
AEST+10:00Australia/SydneyAustralia East
CET / CEST+1:00 / +2:00Europe/ParisCentral Europe
Use cases

When Developers Use Timezone Converter

🗓️

Schedule Remote Meetings

Find overlap hours for distributed teams across US, Europe, and Asia without mentally calculating offsets.

🔗

API Timestamp Parsing

Convert API response timestamps (often UTC) to the local time of the requesting user for display in your UI.

⏱️

Cron Job Scheduling

Verify a cron expression fires at the intended local time when your server runs in UTC and your users are in EST or PST.

📋

Log Correlation

Correlate logs from servers in different regions by converting all timestamps to a single reference timezone.

🚀

Release Windows

Plan deployment windows that fall during off-peak hours for all major user regions simultaneously.

📊

SLA Calculations

Convert SLA response deadlines to the customer's local timezone to ensure accurate time-to-response tracking.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

1What is the difference between UTC and GMT?
UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) and GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) share the same offset (+0:00) but are not identical. GMT is a timezone; UTC is the international time standard that all other timezones are defined relative to. In practice they are interchangeable for most purposes, but software should use UTC as the canonical reference and store timestamps in UTC.
2Does Daylight Saving Time apply to all timezones?
No. Many regions do not observe DST. India (Asia/Kolkata), Japan (Asia/Tokyo), China (Asia/Shanghai), and most of Africa never shift their clocks. Regions that do observe DST (US, EU, Australia) shift by +1 hour in local summer. This tool uses the IANA timezone database to apply the correct rule for each region and date automatically.
3What is ISO 8601 and why should I use it?
ISO 8601 is the international standard for representing dates and times: 2024-03-15T14:30:00Z (UTC) or 2024-03-15T09:30:00-05:00 (EST). It is unambiguous, sortable lexicographically, and understood by every programming language and database. Always store and exchange timestamps in ISO 8601 format with an explicit UTC offset or the Z suffix to avoid timezone confusion.
4What is a Unix timestamp and how do I convert it?
A Unix timestamp is the number of seconds (or milliseconds) elapsed since 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z (the Unix epoch). It is timezone-agnostic — the same integer represents the same moment everywhere on Earth. To display it to a user, convert it to their local timezone. In JavaScript: new Date(timestamp * 1000).toLocaleString(). This tool accepts Unix timestamps as input and converts them to any IANA timezone.
5Why should I use IANA timezone names instead of abbreviations like EST?
Timezone abbreviations are ambiguous. IST can mean India Standard Time (UTC+5:30), Irish Standard Time (UTC+1), or Israel Standard Time (UTC+2). CST is Central Standard Time in the US (UTC-6), China Standard Time (UTC+8), or Cuba Standard Time (UTC-5). IANA names like America/Chicago or Asia/Kolkata are unambiguous, encode all DST rules, and are supported natively by every modern programming language.
6How do I convert between time zones?
Select the source timezone and enter a time, then add one or more target timezones. The tool instantly shows the converted time for each, applying DST rules automatically based on the specific date. You can search timezones by city name, abbreviation (EST, JST), or IANA name (America/New_York).
7What is UTC and why is it used?
UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) is the primary global time standard. It never observes Daylight Saving Time and is the same everywhere on Earth, making it the canonical reference for storing and transmitting timestamps in software. All other timezones are defined as positive or negative offsets from UTC.
8How does Daylight Saving Time affect timezone conversion?
DST causes some timezones to shift their UTC offset by +1 hour in summer. For example, EST (UTC-5) becomes EDT (UTC-4), and PST (UTC-8) becomes PDT (UTC-7). Countries like India (Asia/Kolkata) and Japan (Asia/Tokyo) never observe DST. This tool always uses the correct offset for the specific date entered by looking up the IANA timezone database.
9How do I schedule a meeting across multiple time zones?
Enter the proposed meeting time in your timezone, then add all attendees' timezones to the target list. The tool shows each equivalent time simultaneously. Look for a window where all timezones fall between 9 AM and 5 PM. For US East + India, 9–11 AM ET (6:30–8:30 PM IST) is the most common overlap window.
10How do I convert time zones in JavaScript?
Use the built-in Intl.DateTimeFormat API: new Intl.DateTimeFormat("en-US", { timeZone: "America/New_York" }).format(new Date()). For full manipulation, use Luxon: DateTime.now().setZone("Asia/Kolkata").toISO(). Avoid manual UTC offset arithmetic — it breaks during DST transitions.
11How do I convert time zones in Python?
In Python 3.9+, use the built-in zoneinfo module: from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo; dt = datetime.now(ZoneInfo("America/New_York")). For older Python, use the pytz library: from pytz import timezone; eastern = timezone("America/New_York"). Always use IANA timezone names rather than abbreviations.
12What is the IANA timezone database?
The IANA timezone database (tzdata / Olson database) is the canonical source of timezone rules worldwide, containing historical and current UTC offsets, DST transition rules, and timezone names like America/New_York and Asia/Tokyo. It is updated several times per year and used by every major operating system and programming language.
13What is UTC offset?
A UTC offset is the number of hours (and sometimes minutes) by which a timezone differs from UTC. For example, UTC-5 means 5 hours behind UTC (US Eastern Standard Time), and UTC+5:30 means 5 hours and 30 minutes ahead (India Standard Time). Offsets can change seasonally due to DST in regions that observe it.
14How do I handle DST-aware timestamps in code?
Store all timestamps in UTC and convert to local time only at display time. Use IANA timezone names for conversions rather than raw UTC offsets, so that DST transitions are handled correctly. In JavaScript, use Luxon or date-fns-tz. In Python, use the zoneinfo module (Python 3.9+) or pytz. Never hardcode UTC offset values.
15How do I find the best meeting time for a global team?
Add all your team timezones to this tool and look for a proposed time where all zones fall within 9 AM–5 PM. For US + Europe overlap, 2–4 PM UTC (10 AM–12 PM ET / 3–5 PM London) works well. For US + Asia-Pacific, there is rarely a comfortable overlap — early morning US time or late evening Asia-Pacific is usually required.
16What timezone should I use to store dates in a database?
Always store dates in UTC. Use a TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE column in PostgreSQL, UTC-normalized DATETIME in MySQL 8+, or a Unix integer (seconds since epoch). UTC avoids bugs when server timezones change or when users access data from different regions. Convert to local timezone only at the presentation layer.
Learn more

Developer Guides

📖Timezone in APIs Guide📖UTC vs Local Time in JSON📖Datetime Best Practices📖Fixing Timezone Errors

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