Military Time Converter

Enter Calculation

Convert To: 12-hour regular time → 24-hour military time 24-hour military time → 12-hour regular time

Time: (for → military)

am or pm am pm

Military time: (for → regular, 0–2400)

Formula

Show calculation steps (1)

1. Military to canonical hour and minute

   

   Splits a military integer R (HHMM) into hour H and minute mm. R = 0 or 2400 is midnight (H=0).

Results

Military Time

1200 hours

24-hour "hours" notation

Regular time	12:00 pm
Military time	1200 hours
24 Hour time	12:00

What is the Military Time Converter?

This tool converts time between the everyday 12-hour clock (with am and pm) and 24-hour "military" time. Military time runs from 0000 (midnight) to 2359, removing the am/pm ambiguity that the 12-hour clock has. The converter shows your time in three formats at once: regular 12-hour time, military "hours" notation (for example 1624 hours), and 24-hour colon notation (16:24).

A 24-hour clock dial mapping each hour to its 12-hour am/pm equivalent.

How to use it

Pick a direction. To turn a regular time into military time, choose "regular → military", type the time as H:MM (such as 4:24), and select am or pm. To turn military time into regular time, choose "military → regular" and enter the four-digit value (such as 1624 or 0008). Press calculate to see all three formats.

The formula explained

The converter first reduces any input to a canonical 24-hour hour H (0–23) and minute mm. From a regular time: if it is am, 12 becomes 0 and every other hour stays the same; if it is pm, 12 stays 12 and every other hour gains 12.

$$H = \begin{cases} 0 & h=12,\ \text{am} \\ h & 1\le h\le 11,\ \text{am} \\ 12 & h=12,\ \text{pm} \\ h+12 & 1\le h\le 11,\ \text{pm} \end{cases}$$

From military time, the hour is the value divided by 100 (dropping the remainder) and the minute is the value modulo 100.

$$H=\left\lfloor \tfrac{R}{100}\right\rfloor,\quad mm = R \bmod 100$$

The special values 0000 and 2400 both mean midnight, so \(H = 0\).

Midnight starts at 00:00; pm hours add 12 to the regular hour.

Worked example

Convert 4:24 pm to military time. Because it is pm and the hour is not 12, add 12: \(H = 4 + 12 = 16\), with \(mm = 24\). The outputs are regular "4:24 pm", military "1624 hours", and 24-hour "16:24".

FAQ

Is midnight 0000 or 2400? Both notations are used. By convention the start of the day is 0000 and the end of the day is 2400; this tool reports midnight as 0000 hours.

What is 12:00 pm in military time? Noon is 1200 hours. Many people confuse it with midnight, but 12:00 am (0000) is midnight and 12:00 pm (1200) is noon.

How are minutes handled? Minutes stay the same in every format and are always shown with two digits, so 7 minutes becomes 07.