How military time converts to 12-hour
Military time runs from 00:00 to 23:59. For hours 13 to 23 you subtract 12 and add PM; 00:xx becomes 12:xx AM; 12:xx stays 12:xx PM; and 01–11 keep their number with AM. So 14:30 becomes 2:30 PM.
Going the other way is just as simple: for PM times add 12 to the hour, so 7:45 PM becomes 19:45, while 12:15 PM stays 12:15. For AM times keep the hour and pad it to two digits, so 6:05 AM is 06:05 — with the single exception of 12:30 AM, which becomes 00:30.
The same numbers feed straight into the time to decimal calculator.
How to use this calculator
Enter a 24-hour time and read the AM/PM equivalent. Need a duration instead of a conversion? Try the work hours calculator, or turn decimals into clock time with the decimal hours to time calculator.
The two hours people get wrong are 12 and 00. 12:00 is noon, not midnight, and 00:00 is midnight. A booking listed as 12:00 AM is the very start of the day while 12:00 PM is the middle of it, so when a deadline matters, writing it in 24-hour form removes the ambiguity completely.
Quick reference
00:00 = 12:00 AM (midnight), 06:00 = 6:00 AM, 12:00 = 12:00 PM (noon), 18:00 = 6:00 PM, 23:00 = 11:00 PM. The trick is that noon and midnight both use 12.
More reference points: 07:30 = 7:30 AM, 09:45 = 9:45 AM, 13:15 = 1:15 PM, 15:00 = 3:00 PM, 20:20 = 8:20 PM and 23:59 = 11:59 PM. Minutes never change between the two formats — only the hour and the AM/PM label do.
Once that is settled, the add time calculator takes care of the next part.
Frequently asked questions
- What is 14:30 in 12-hour time?
- 14:30 in military time is 2:30 PM.
- How do I convert military time to AM/PM?
- For hours 13–23, subtract 12 and label it PM. 00:xx is 12:xx AM and 12:xx is 12:xx PM.
- What is 00:00 in 12-hour time?
- 00:00 is 12:00 AM, which is midnight.
- Is 12:00 military time AM or PM?
- 12:00 is 12:00 PM, which is noon. Midnight is 00:00, written as 12:00 AM.
- How is military time written and spoken?
- It is written as four digits with no colon and spoken in hundreds: 0800 is “zero eight hundred” and 1730 is “seventeen thirty”. The start of a day is normally written 0000, while some services use 2400 to mark the end of one.