UTC Time Now

What this page shows

So you want to know what the time is in UTC right now. Maybe you are reading a log file, joining a call set in UTC, coordinating something across a few countries at once, or working with code or hardware that keeps everything in UTC. That is what the clock at the top of this page is for. It shows the current Coordinated Universal Time and ticks forward every second, so there is nothing for you to convert by hand.

Wherever in the world you are reading this from, the clock reads the same UTC. That is rather the whole point of UTC, and the next sections explain why it is the one clock everyone can agree on.

UTC and GMT, and why UTC is the one to use

First, the question that comes up every time. Is UTC the same as GMT? For telling the time, yes. Both sit at zero offset and read the same down to the second.

The split is in how each is defined. GMT, Greenwich Mean Time, is the older one, based on the sun crossing the Greenwich meridian. UTC, Coordinated Universal Time, is the modern one, built from atomic clocks. They can differ by less than a second, which only matters for precise scientific work. The reason UTC is the one that aviation, computing, science, and international standards all reach for is that it is defined and maintained as a proper measurement standard, not by astronomy. If you want the longer history of the zero offset and the Greenwich side of the story, that is on the GMT Time Now page.

What UTC actually is

UTC stands for Coordinated Universal Time. It is the primary time standard that the world sets its clocks by, sitting at zero offset, written as UTC plus 0. Every other time zone is described as a number of hours ahead of or behind it, like UTC minus 5 for US Eastern or UTC plus 5:30 for India.

What makes UTC reliable is how it is put together. It is calculated from a weighted average of hundreds of atomic clocks kept at national laboratories around the world, coordinated by the BIPM in France. Because the Earth's rotation is slightly irregular, UTC is kept in step with it by adding an occasional leap second, a job handled by the IERS. The result is a single, very precise reference that does not belong to any one country.

UTC never changes for daylight saving

Here is the part worth holding on to. UTC does not have daylight saving, and it never shifts with the seasons. It is a fixed reference, the same in January as in July.

That is exactly why it is so useful. When a country springs its clocks forward in spring, what really happens is that its offset from UTC changes for a while, say from UTC minus 5 to UTC minus 4, while UTC itself stays put. So if you anchor a meeting time or a deadline in UTC, it stays unambiguous no matter who is on daylight saving and who is not. This page holds that fixed UTC reference all year, so you always have a steady point to convert from.

Converting UTC to other time zones

Since UTC sits at zero, converting is just adding or subtracting each zone's offset. The only thing to watch is that many places shift by an hour for their own daylight saving, so some of the gaps below change between winter and summer, while UTC stays where it is. Here is the quick reference, assuming it is 12 noon UTC.

A few quick examples

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

Say it is 12 noon UTC in the winter. That is 7 in the morning in New York, 12 noon in London, and 1 in the afternoon in Berlin. India keeps the same offset all year, so it is 5:30 in the evening in Mumbai whatever the season.

Now the summer. UTC has not moved, but the places around it have. London, level with UTC in winter, is now an hour ahead on British Summer Time, so the same 12 noon UTC reads 1 in the afternoon there. New York, five hours behind in winter, is four behind in summer. This is the quiet advantage of UTC: it stays still while everything else shuffles around it.

One last note. Pilots, sailors, and a fair few engineers call UTC by the name Zulu time, often written with a Z, as in 1200Z for 12 noon UTC. It is the same thing, just the radio and military way of saying it.

Where UTC is used

UTC is less a local clock and more the reference the world shares. Aviation runs on it so that flight plans and air traffic control mean the same thing across borders. Computers and the internet keep time in it under the hood. Science, weather, and the military all use it for the same reason, that one agreed clock removes any argument about whose time you meant.

As an everyday local clock, only a few places sit right on UTC with no daylight saving, such as Iceland and several countries in West Africa. The United Kingdom and London match it through the winter, then move an hour ahead for the summer.

Questions people ask

What time is it in UTC right now?

The clock near the top of this page is the answer, and it updates every second. UTC sits at zero offset and never changes for daylight saving, so it reads the same steady reference all year round.

Is UTC the same as GMT?

For telling the time, yes. Both are at zero offset and match to the second. UTC is the modern atomic standard and GMT is the older one based on the sun at Greenwich. UTC is the one used for aviation, computing, and science because it is maintained as a precise measurement standard.

Does UTC change for daylight saving?

No, never. UTC is a fixed reference with no daylight saving anywhere. When a country changes its clocks, it is its offset from UTC that changes, while UTC itself stays put.

What does UTC stand for?

Coordinated Universal Time. It is the primary standard the world sets its clocks by, calculated from hundreds of atomic clocks and kept in step with the Earth's rotation by occasional leap seconds.

Why is UTC called Zulu time?

It is the same thing under a different name. In aviation and the military the zero offset is given the letter Z, spoken as Zulu, so 12 noon UTC is written 1200Z. It is just the radio way of saying UTC.

What is the IANA name for UTC?

It is Etc/UTC in the IANA time zone database, the time data your phone and your computer use. It is the fixed zero reference that all the other zones are measured against.

References

1. Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), Time Department, which calculates and disseminates Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) from the world's atomic clocks. https://www.bipm.org/en/work-programme/time
2. International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS), responsible for leap seconds that keep UTC in step with the Earth's rotation. https://www.iers.org
3. International Telecommunication Union, Recommendation ITU-R TF.460, the standard defining UTC and its time signals. https://www.itu.int/rec/R-REC-TF.460/en
4. Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Time Zone Database (the tz database), home of the Etc/UTC identifier. https://www.iana.org/time-zones