Sydney Time Now

What this page shows

So you want to know what time it is in Sydney right now. Maybe you have a call with someone in Australia, a flight to catch, a market open to track, or someone to reach before their evening is over. That is what the clock at the top of this page is for. It shows the current time in Sydney and ticks forward every second, so there is nothing for you to work out by hand.

Wherever in the world you are reading this from, the clock tracks Sydney and keeps itself right on its own, even across the days when the clocks change. Whether Sydney is on its summer or its winter setting at the time, the clock shows the correct local time.

Sydney changes its clocks twice a year

Here is the part worth knowing about Sydney time. Sydney does not stay on the same clock all year. It uses daylight saving, but on the southern hemisphere's schedule, which runs opposite to Europe and North America. It keeps Australian Eastern Standard Time, AEST, through the southern winter, and moves an hour ahead to Australian Eastern Daylight Time, AEDT, for the southern summer.

So there are two settings behind Sydney time:

• AEST, Australian Eastern Standard Time. Ten hours ahead of UTC, written UTC plus 10. The winter setting, from April to October.
• AEDT, Australian Eastern Daylight Time. Eleven hours ahead of UTC, written UTC plus 11. The summer setting, from October to early April.

The clock above follows whichever one is in force, so you do not have to track it yourself. The section further down spells out the dates if you ever need to work it out for a particular day.

What time zone Sydney is in

Sydney runs on Australian Eastern Time, ten hours ahead of UTC in winter and eleven hours ahead in summer. As the country's largest city and financial centre, home to the Australian Securities Exchange, Sydney sets the pace for the Australian business day, and Australian Eastern Time is the clock most of the country's commerce is quoted against.

There is a catch worth knowing, though, within Australia itself. Not every eastern state changes its clocks. New South Wales, where Sydney sits, uses daylight saving, but Queensland to the north does not. So in winter Sydney and Brisbane read exactly the same time, both on AEST, but through the southern summer Sydney springs forward to AEDT and Brisbane stays put, leaving Sydney an hour ahead of its northern neighbour for half the year.

How to tell if Sydney is on AEST or AEDT right now

Sydney changes its clocks on two Sundays a year. Because the seasons are flipped south of the equator, daylight saving here runs through the southern summer, roughly the opposite half of the year to the north:

• Spring forward. On the first Sunday of October, the clocks jump ahead one hour. AEST becomes AEDT, and Sydney goes from UTC plus 10 to UTC plus 11.
• Fall back. On the first Sunday of April, the clocks drop back one hour. AEDT becomes AEST again, at UTC plus 10.

So the rule is short. From the first Sunday of October to the first Sunday of April, Sydney is on AEDT, the summer setting. The rest of the year, April to October, it is on AEST. Place today between those two Sundays and you have your answer.

Time difference from Sydney to other cities

Sydney is well ahead of the northern world, so midday here falls overnight across Europe and the Americas. Because both Sydney and the northern cities change their clocks, but in opposite seasons, some of these gaps swing by up to two hours across the year. Here is the quick reference, assuming it is 12 noon in Sydney.

A few quick examples

Let us run a few, so you can see how this works.

Say it is 12 noon in Sydney. Perth, on the far west coast, is two hours behind at 10 in the morning, or three hours behind in the Sydney summer, when Sydney has sprung forward and Perth, which keeps no daylight saving, has not. Auckland is two hours ahead at 2 in the afternoon, all year.

Now the long hauls north. London is nine to eleven hours behind, so 12 noon in Sydney is somewhere around 1 to 3 in the morning in London. New York is further back still, fourteen to sixteen hours behind, sitting in the previous evening. A midday moment in Sydney is the middle of the night, or earlier, for most of the northern world.

The gaps to London and New York swing by a couple of hours across the year, because both hemispheres change their clocks but in opposite seasons. For a call that has to land just right, check the live clock rather than the rule of thumb.

A couple of things about Sydney time

Sydney sits at about 34 degrees south, so the length of the day swings a fair amount across the year, the opposite way round to the northern hemisphere. The longest days come around December, with roughly fourteen and a half hours between sunrise and sunset, and the shortest around June, dropping to just under ten. Daylight saving stretches the long summer evenings further still.

On the clock-against-sun question, Sydney is a close match. Australian Eastern Standard Time is built on the 150 degree east line, and Sydney sits almost on it, so in winter the sun reaches its highest within a few minutes of 12 noon by the clock. In summer, on AEDT, the clock runs an hour ahead of the sun, as daylight saving intends.

Other places to compare

Australia spans several zones, and its neighbours keep their own. Here are some to jump to:

• Perth time now, two or three hours behind
• Auckland time now, two hours ahead
• Australia time now, the country as a whole

And if it is the time zone itself you are reading up on, see AEST Time Now, with the global reference it is measured from at UTC Time Now.

Questions people ask

What time is it in Sydney right now?

The clock near the top of this page is the answer, and it updates every second. Just remember that Sydney changes its clocks, so it shows AEDT through the southern summer and AEST through the winter, switching over on its own. Either way, the time shown is correct.

Is Sydney on AEST or AEDT right now?

Go by the dates. Sydney is on AEDT, the summer setting, from the first Sunday of October to the first Sunday of April. The rest of the year, April to October, it is on AEST. Find where today falls between those two Sundays and you will know.

Is Sydney the same time as Brisbane?

In winter, yes, both are on AEST. In the southern summer, no. Sydney springs forward to AEDT and Brisbane, in Queensland, does not use daylight saving, so Sydney is an hour ahead of Brisbane for that half of the year.

What time zone is Sydney in?

Australian Eastern Time, ten hours ahead of UTC in winter and eleven hours ahead in summer. It is shared with the other eastern states, though not all of them change their clocks.

What is the time difference between Sydney and Perth?

Perth is two hours behind Sydney in winter, and three hours behind in the Sydney summer, since Perth keeps no daylight saving while Sydney springs forward.

What is the IANA name for Sydney time?

It is Australia/Sydney in the IANA time zone database, the time data your phone and your computer use. It carries both the AEST and AEDT offsets along with the rule for switching between them, and it is what drives the live clock on this page.

References

1. Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Time Zone Database (the tz database), home of the Australia/Sydney identifier. https://www.iana.org/time-zones
2. National Measurement Institute (NMI), Australia, which keeps and disseminates Australia's legal time. https://www.industry.gov.au/national-measurement-institute/nmi-services/physical-measurement-services/time-and-frequency-services
3. Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), Time Department, which maintains Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the reference Australian Eastern Time is measured from. https://www.bipm.org/en/work-programme/time