Time Zone Converter
Compare the current time across cities around the world.
The time zone converter shows the current local time in cities around the world, side by side and updating live. Each city card displays the time, the local date, the UTC offset and a time-of-day label — morning, afternoon, evening or night — with a matching colour, so you can see at a glance whether it is a reasonable hour to call. A “best meeting window” banner highlights the hours when everyone is between 9am and 6pm. Six cities are shown by default and you can add any IANA time zone in the world; your additions are remembered on your device.
How to use the time zone converter
- View the live clocks for New York, London, Paris, Dubai, Tokyo and Sydney.
- Read each city's local time, date and UTC offset at a glance.
- Use the colour and label to see whether it is morning, afternoon, evening or night there.
- Add any other time zone you work with — it is saved locally and restored next time.
- Check the meeting-window banner for a slot that works for everyone on the board.
Worked examples
London to Sydney
Nine or ten hours ahead depending on the season — and the gap changes four times a year, because the two hemispheres shift their clocks in opposite directions. Between April and October the difference is nine hours; between November and March it is eleven.
The date line in practice
When it is 22:00 Monday in New York it is already 11:00 Tuesday in Tokyo. This is why each card shows the local date, not just the time — half the scheduling mistakes people make across the Pacific are date errors, not hour errors.
Finding a workable slot
New York, London and Dubai share a window: 09:00–10:00 in New York is 14:00–15:00 in London and 17:00–18:00 in Dubai. Add Tokyo and the overlap disappears entirely — the banner will tell you so rather than proposing an hour that works for nobody.
Why offsets are not fixed
A time zone is not a number. UTC+1 describes where a place's clock stands right now, but that offset changes with daylight saving, and the rules governing it change by legislation more often than most people expect. The IANA time zone database — the reference every operating system relies on — is updated several times a year as countries move, adopt or abolish DST.
This is why the converter works from zone identifiers such as America/New_York rather than from fixed offsets. Each clock is resolved through your browser's copy of the zone database, so the offsets shown reflect each city's current daylight-saving state, not a hard-coded assumption.
Scheduling across hemispheres
The difficult part of international scheduling is not the offset — it is that the offset moves. Northern-hemisphere countries shift their clocks forward in March and back in October or November; Australia and New Zealand do the reverse. For several weeks a year, Europe and Australia are one hour further apart than usual, and a recurring meeting that has run smoothly for months quietly shifts.
Many countries do not observe daylight saving at all: most of Asia, most of Africa, India, China, Japan and the majority of South America keep a constant offset year-round. Arizona and Hawaii sit out the United States change. That asymmetry is what makes a live clock more reliable than mental arithmetic.
The meeting-window banner looks for hours where every listed city is inside 09:00–18:00 local. If no such overlap exists — and with a wide enough spread there often is none — it says so rather than suggesting a compromise that inconveniences everyone.
Reading the cards
Each card is tinted by time of day: warmer tones for morning and afternoon, cooler ones for evening and night. The intent is that you should be able to scan the board and rule out the impossible slots without reading a single number.
The UTC offset is shown explicitly on every card because it is the value you need when writing a meeting invitation or scheduling a job. Offsets are given relative to UTC, which is the modern successor to GMT and the reference every other zone is defined against.
Frequently asked questions
How is the local time worked out?
Each city's current time is derived from its IANA time zone identifier through your browser's time zone database, including daylight-saving rules, so the clocks match the real local time right now.
What is the best meeting window?
It is the overlap where every listed city is within 9am–6pm local time. If no such overlap exists, the banner says the spread is too wide rather than proposing an unworkable slot.
Does it handle daylight saving time?
Yes. Offsets reflect each zone's current daylight-saving status, so a city may shift by an hour at the start or end of its DST period, and the gap between two cities can change several times a year.
Can I add my own cities?
Yes. Any IANA time zone can be added to the board, and your selection is saved in your browser so it is there next time. Nothing is sent to a server.
Why does the gap between two cities change?
Because the two places shift their clocks on different dates, or one does not shift at all. London and Sydney are nine hours apart in the northern summer and eleven in the northern winter.
Which countries don't use daylight saving?
Most of Asia and Africa, along with India, China, Japan, most of South America, and — within the United States — Arizona and Hawaii. Their offset is the same year-round.
What do the card colours mean?
Each card is tinted by time of day — warm tones for morning and afternoon, cooler tones for evening and night — for an instant visual read.
What is the difference between UTC and GMT?
For everyday purposes they are the same. UTC is the modern atomic-clock standard that all civil time zones are defined against; GMT is the older astronomical reference and is now also a time zone name used in the UK in winter.