24-Hour to 12-Hour Time Converter
Use the 24-hour to 12-hour time converter below to convert times to standard 12-hour time and vice versa.
Current 24-Hour Time
Current 12-Hour Time
24-Hour Time Conversion
Joe is the creator of Inch Calculator and has over 20 years of experience in engineering and construction. He holds several degrees and certifications.
How to Convert 24-Hour Time to 12-Hour Time
24-hour time is a standard time format that uses the hours 0 through 23. Notably, 24-hour time does not use the am/pm notation to denote whether a time is before or after noon since each hour on the 24-hour clock is unique.
Because it does not use the am or pm notation, it is less ambiguous than standard 12-hour time. 24-hour time is sometimes referred to as military time, but it’s not the same as the military time standard since it uses the colon symbol (:) to separate hours from minutes in the time.
24-hour time is commonly used internationally and in the medical, emergency services, law enforcement, government, meteorology, and astronomy fields.
You can convert 24-hour time to 12-hour time in a few easy steps.
Step One: Split the 24-hour time into hours and minutes. The first two digits in the time are the hours, and the last two digits are the minutes.
Step Two: If the hours are greater than 12, then subtract 12 from them. In this case, the time will be a pm time; otherwise, it’s am.
If the hours are “00”, then the hour is actually 12 midnight (12:00 am).
Step Three: Finally, you can rewrite 24-hour time as 12-hour time by writing the hours and minutes with a colon in between, then append am or pm depending on whether the hours were less than or greater than 12, respectively.
For example, let’s convert 15:30 to 12-hour time.
In this case, 15 represents the hours, and 30 represents the minutes. Since 15 is greater than 12, subtract 12 to get the standard time hours.
hours = 15 – 12 = 3
Then, rewrite the time in 12-hour time by placing the hours and minutes with a colon in between and appending pm since the hours were greater than 12.
24-hour time = 15:30
12-hour time = 3:30 pm
24-Hour Time Conversion Chart
The chart below shows each hour of the day in 24-hour time and 12-hour time.
| 24-Hour Time | 12-Hour Time |
|---|---|
| 00:00 (midnight) | 12:00 am |
| 01:00 | 1:00 am |
| 02:00 | 2:00 am |
| 03:00 | 3:00 am |
| 04:00 | 4:00 am |
| 05:00 | 5:00 am |
| 06:00 | 6:00 am |
| 07:00 | 7:00 am |
| 08:00 | 8:00 am |
| 09:00 | 9:00 am |
| 10:00 | 10:00 am |
| 11:00 | 11:00 am |
| 12:00 (noon) | 12:00 pm |
| 13:00 | 1:00 pm |
| 14:00 | 2:00 pm |
| 15:00 | 3:00 pm |
| 16:00 | 4:00 pm |
| 17:00 | 5:00 pm |
| 18:00 | 6:00 pm |
| 19:00 | 7:00 pm |
| 20:00 | 8:00 pm |
| 21:00 | 9:00 pm |
| 22:00 | 10:00 pm |
| 23:00 | 11:00 pm |
You might also be interested in our time calculator.