Time Zones Explained — EST, CST, PST, GMT, BST, CET, IST & Zulu Time
Plain-English answers to what is EST time, what is CST time, what is PST time, what is GMT, what is BST time, what is CET time, what is IST time and what is Zulu time — with live current time in every zone.
Live Current Time in Every Major Zone
| Zone | Stands For | UTC Offset | Current Time |
|---|
What Is EST Time? (Eastern Standard Time)
Eastern Standard Time is UTC−5. Used by the US East Coast (New York, Washington DC, Atlanta, Miami), Toronto, Montreal, Cuba and parts of the Caribbean in winter. What is EST time now? See the live clock in our world time directory. What is EST time zone? It covers New York, Toronto and the eastern US/Canada.
What Is EDT Time? (Eastern Daylight Time)
Eastern Daylight Time is UTC−4, the daylight-saving version of EST. EDT runs from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November in the US and Canada.
What Is ET Time? (Eastern Time, generic)
ET is the generic label that covers both EST and EDT — used when a meeting time stays anchored to the East Coast regardless of DST. "9 AM ET" means 9 AM Eastern, automatically EST in winter and EDT in summer.
What Is CST Time? (Central Standard Time)
Central Standard Time is UTC−6, used in Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Mexico City, Winnipeg and most of the US Midwest. What is CST right now? Subtract 1 hour from EST. Warning: "CST" also abbreviates China Standard Time (UTC+8) and Cuba Standard Time (UTC−5) — context matters.
What Is CDT Time? (Central Daylight Time)
Central Daylight Time is UTC−5, the daylight-saving form of CST in the US/Canada. What is CDT time zone? Same geography as CST, observed from March to November.
What Is Central Time?
Central Time is the generic label combining CST (winter) and CDT (summer). What is central time now? / What is central time right now? Use the live row in the table above.
What Is MST Time? (Mountain Standard Time)
Mountain Standard Time is UTC−7, used in Denver, Phoenix, Calgary and most of the US Mountain region. Arizona stays on MST year-round (no DST); the rest of the zone switches to MDT (UTC−6) in summer.
What Is Mountain Time?
Mountain Time is the combined MST/MDT label, the third of the four contiguous-US zones from east to west.
What Is PST Time? (Pacific Standard Time)
Pacific Standard Time is UTC−8, used in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver and Tijuana in winter. What is Pacific time right now? Use the live row in the table above.
What Is PDT Time? (Pacific Daylight Time)
Pacific Daylight Time is UTC−7, the daylight-saving version of PST.
What Is Pacific Time?
Pacific Time is the generic PST/PDT label. What is Pacific Standard Time? See the PST section above.
What Is GMT? (Greenwich Mean Time)
What does GMT stand for? Greenwich Mean Time — the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London. GMT is UTC+0, the reference zone for the entire planet. What is GMT time now? See the live row in the table above. What is GMT time zone? It covers the UK in winter, Iceland, and most of Western Africa.
What Is BST Time? (British Summer Time)
British Summer Time is UTC+1, the UK's daylight-saving time from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October. Don't confuse it with Bangladesh Standard Time (also BST, UTC+6).
What Is CET Time? (Central European Time)
Central European Time is UTC+1, observed across most of mainland Europe — Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Rome, Warsaw, Amsterdam. What is CET time zone? It's the standard winter offset; in summer it shifts to CEST (UTC+2).
What Is IST Time? (Indian Standard Time)
Indian Standard Time is UTC+5:30, used across India and Sri Lanka. Note: "IST" also abbreviates Irish Standard Time (UTC+1) and Israel Standard Time (UTC+2) — context matters.
What Is Zulu Time?
Zulu time (Z) is military and aviation shorthand for UTC — Coordinated Universal Time, the global standard at 0° longitude. Pilots, military operations and ISO 8601 timestamps use "Z" for unambiguous, zone-free time.
What Is Standard Time?
Standard time is the legally adopted "winter" time in a region — the baseline offset before any daylight-saving shift. EST, CST, MST, PST, GMT and CET are all "standard" times; EDT, CDT, MDT, PDT, BST and CEST are their daylight-saving counterparts.
What Are the Different Time Zones?
What are the time zones and how many exist? In theory the world has 24 standard zones spaced 15° of longitude apart. In practice, due to national borders, political decisions and 30/45-minute offsets (India UTC+5:30, Nepal UTC+5:45, Chatham UTC+12:45), the world uses around 38 active offsets covering more than 400 IANA zone names. Browse them all in our world time clock directory.
What Is My Time Zone?
Your detected zone is — at — from UTC. That's the answer to what is my time zone, what is my current time zone and what is my time zone UTC.
What Is the Time Difference Between Two Cities?
Use our live world time clock to compare any two cities side-by-side — the gap between their displayed local times is the time difference. Common examples: New York to London is +5h (EST→GMT), London to Tokyo is +9h (GMT→JST), San Francisco to Sydney is +18h (PST→AEDT).