Time & Date
Military Time Converter
Use this military time converter to switch between the 24-hour clock (0000-2359) and the 12-hour AM/PM clock in either direction.
It shows the add-12 or subtract-12 arithmetic step by step, handles midnight (0000 and 2400) and noon (1200) explicitly, and tells you how to say the time out loud the way schedules, radios, and duty rosters expect.
Type 1430, 14:30, 930, a bare hour like 6, or 0000. 2400 is accepted as midnight.
Try an example
Result
Converted time
—
- Military (24-hour)
- —
- 12-hour clock
- —
- How to say it
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What the military time converter solves
Use this military time converter to switch between the 24-hour clock (0000-2359) and the 12-hour AM/PM clock in either direction. It shows the add-12 or subtract-12 arithmetic step by step, handles midnight (0000 and 2400) and noon (1200) explicitly, and tells you how to say the time out loud the way schedules, radios, and duty rosters expect.
Formula
How to use it
- Choose the conversion direction: military to 12-hour, or 12-hour to military.
- For military input, type the time as digits (1430, 930), with a colon (14:30), or as a bare hour (6). 0000 and 2400 both mean midnight.
- For 12-hour input, enter the hour from 1 to 12, the minutes, and pick AM or PM.
- Read the converted time, both written formats, and the spoken military form.
How to read the answer
The primary result is the converted clock time, and both written formats always appear so you can copy whichever one a schedule or form asks for. The spoken form shows how the military time is read aloud: leading zeros are read as 'oh' (0600 is 'oh six hundred hours'), whole hours use 'hundred' (1400 is 'fourteen hundred hours'), and other times read the digits naturally (1430 is 'fourteen thirty hours').
Common mistakes and edge cases
- Adding 12 to 12 PM: noon is already 1200. Only add 12 for 1 PM through 11 PM.
- Treating 12:00 AM as noon: 12 AM is midnight and 12 PM is noon. Military time sidesteps the confusion entirely with 0000 and 1200.
- Writing midnight as 2400 on a schedule that expects 0000: both name the same instant, but 2400 marks the end of one day while 0000 starts the next.
- Dropping the leading zero when writing military time: 9:30 AM is written 0930 and spoken 'oh nine thirty hours', even though this converter accepts 930 as shorthand.
- Subtracting 12 from morning hours: 1 AM through 11 AM keep the same hour in military time; only PM hours change.
Worked examples
Typical afternoon time
1430 converts by subtracting 12 from the hour.
Converted time
2:30 PM
Midnight as 0000
Hour 00 becomes 12 AM on the 12-hour clock.
Converted time
12:00 AM
Midnight written as 2400
2400 is accepted and treated as the same instant as 0000.
Converted time
12:00 AM
Three-digit shorthand
930 is read as 09:30 because the last two digits are always minutes.
Converted time
9:30 AM
Noon to military
12 PM stays hour 12; nothing is added.
Converted time
1200 (12:00)
12 AM to military
12 AM is midnight, so the military hour is 00.
Converted time
0000 (00:00)
Evening time to military
7:45 PM adds 12 to the hour: 7 + 12 = 19, written 1945.
Converted time
1945 (19:45)
Hour past 23
2530 is not a clock time: military hours run 00 through 23, so the converter explains the limit.
Converted time
Error
Minutes past 59
1475 has 75 minutes, which no clock shows; minutes must be 00 through 59.
Converted time
Error
Frequently asked questions
Is 12:00 AM midnight or noon?+
12:00 AM is midnight and 12:00 PM is noon. The mnemonic: after 11:59 PM at night comes 12:00 AM, starting a new day. Military time avoids the ambiguity entirely, midnight is 0000 and noon is 1200, which is a big reason hospitals, airlines, and the military use the 24-hour clock.
Is midnight 0000 or 2400 in military time?+
Both refer to the same instant. 0000 is the start of a new day and 2400 is the end of the previous day, so a shift ending at midnight might be written 'ends 2400' while one starting at midnight is 'starts 0000'. Digital clocks and most standards (including ISO 8601 in everyday use) display 0000.
What is 1430 in regular time?+
1430 is 2:30 PM. The hour 14 is greater than 12, so subtract 12 to get 2, and any military hour from 13 to 23 is a PM time.
How do you say military time out loud?+
Say the hour digits, then the minutes, then 'hours'. Leading zeros are read as 'oh': 0600 is 'oh six hundred hours', 0915 is 'oh nine fifteen hours'. Whole hours use 'hundred': 1400 is 'fourteen hundred hours'. Otherwise read the numbers directly: 1430 is 'fourteen thirty hours', and midnight (0000) is 'zero hundred hours'.
Does military time use a colon?+
Strict military style writes four digits with no colon (1430), while the general 24-hour clock usually keeps the colon (14:30). They mean exactly the same time, which is why this converter shows and accepts both.
How do I quickly convert a PM time to military time?+
Add 12 to the hour unless it is 12 PM. So 1 PM is 1300, 5 PM is 1700, 11 PM is 2300, but 12 PM stays 1200. Going the other way, subtract 12 from any hour of 13 or more.
About this calculator
- Written by
- mathcheck editorial team
- Last reviewed
- September 4, 2026
Method
- Uses the values entered by the user and stable formulas documented on the page.
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Last updated: September 4, 2026