Military Time Converter and Chart (Free Template)

Military time converters turn standard AM and PM times into the 24-hour clock and back again. Use the free converter and the full military time chart below, then grab the copy-and-paste Google Sheets formulas to convert times automatically in your own spreadsheets.

If you have ever looked at a time like 14:30 and had to pause for a second, you are not alone. Military time, also called the 24-hour clock, is standard in payroll and time tracking systems, healthcare, logistics, the military, and most scheduling software. Once you understand the pattern, and especially once a spreadsheet does the work for you, converting between the two formats takes no thought at all.

Free Military Time Converter

What Is Military Time?

Military time uses a 24-hour format instead of the 12-hour AM and PM system. The day starts at 00:00 (midnight) and counts up to 23:59 (11:59 PM), so 1:00 PM becomes 13:00, 2:00 PM becomes 14:00, and 3:00 PM becomes 15:00. Because every hour of the day has its own number, there is no confusion between morning and evening, which makes military time more precise for scheduling and time tracking.

Military time is usually written as four digits without a colon, such as 1430, and spoken as "fourteen thirty." Business systems often display it with a colon, such as 14:30. Both mean 2:30 PM.

Military Time Chart

Use this chart to convert any hour at a glance. For times between the hours, keep the minutes the same: 3:45 PM is 1545, and 9:15 AM is 0915.

How to Convert Standard Time to Military Time

The rule is simple and depends on whether the time is AM or PM.

• AM times: keep the same hour and add a leading zero if the hour is a single digit. 7:00 AM becomes 0700.
• PM times: add 12 to the hour. 2:00 PM becomes 1400, and 6:30 PM becomes 1830.
• Midnight and noon: 12:00 AM (midnight) becomes 0000, and 12:00 PM (noon) stays 1200.

Conversion Examples

For 3:45 PM, add 12 to the hour (3 + 12 = 15) to get 1545. For 9:15 AM, add a leading zero to get 0915. For 12:30 AM, the midnight hour becomes 00, so the time is 0030.

How to Convert Military Time to Standard Time

To go the other way, look at the hour. If it is 13 or higher, subtract 12 and add PM, so 1800 becomes 6:00 PM. If it is from 01 to 11, keep the hour and add AM, so 0900 becomes 9:00 AM. Two special cases: 0000 is 12:00 AM (midnight), and 1200 is 12:00 PM (noon).

Copy-Paste Google Sheets and Excel Formulas

These formulas convert times automatically. They work in Google Sheets and Excel when the cell contains a real time value, not text.

Standard Time to Military Time

If A1 contains 3:45 PM, this returns 15:45:

=TEXT(A1,"HH:mm")

Military Time to Standard Time

If A1 contains 15:45, this returns 3:45 PM:

=TEXT(A1,"h:mm AM/PM")

Four-Digit Number to Standard Time

If you type military times as plain numbers like 1430, the spreadsheet sees fourteen hundred thirty, not a time. This formula splits the hours and minutes and returns 2:30 PM:

=TEXT(TIME(INT(A1/100),MOD(A1,100),0),"h:mm AM/PM")

Standard Time to a Four-Digit Number

If A1 contains 2:30 PM, this returns 1430:

=TEXT(A1,"HHmm")

Use a lowercase mm for minutes. In some spreadsheet apps, an uppercase MM can be read as the month instead of minutes.

A Real-World Time Tracking Example

Say an employee clocks in at 8:00 AM and clocks out at 4:30 PM. In military time that is 0800 to 1630. Subtracting gives 8.5 hours with no chance of mixing up AM and PM. That is exactly why payroll and time clock systems store time in a 24-hour format: it makes hour and overtime calculations reliable.

How to Say Military Time Out Loud

Military time is usually spoken as two pairs of numbers. 1430 is "fourteen thirty," and 1900 is "nineteen hundred." Times before 10:00 AM start with "zero," so 0700 is "zero seven hundred" and 0915 is "zero nine fifteen." Midnight is written 0000 and spoken "zero hundred" or "midnight." Some organizations also use 2400 to mean the end of a day, but most time systems record the start of the next day as 0000.

Converting Minutes to Decimal Hours for Payroll

Payroll systems calculate pay in decimal hours, so 8 hours and 45 minutes becomes 8.75 hours. To convert, divide the minutes by 60. This table covers the most common values:

In a spreadsheet, subtract the start time from the end time and multiply by 24 to get decimal hours. If A1 holds the clock-in time and B1 holds the clock-out time:

=(B1-A1)*24

Calculating Hours Worked Across Midnight

Overnight shifts break simple subtraction. A shift from 2200 to 0600 looks like a negative number because the end time is smaller than the start time. The fix is the MOD function, which wraps the time around midnight and returns 8 hours:

=MOD(B1-A1,1)*24

Use this formula for any schedule that might cross midnight, such as healthcare, security, manufacturing, and hospitality shifts. It returns the correct result for same-day shifts too, so it is safe to use everywhere.

Military Time vs. 24-Hour Time vs. Zulu Time

Military time and the 24-hour clock are the same system written slightly differently. Zulu time adds a time zone: it always refers to UTC, so teams in different locations can coordinate without converting between local zones.

Who Uses Military Time

Healthcare uses military time for charting and medication schedules, where an AM and PM mix-up can be dangerous. Aviation, emergency dispatch, police, and fire services use it for precise logs. Manufacturing, logistics, and hospitality use it to schedule shifts that run around the clock. Software systems and data files often store time in the international ISO 8601 format, which is based on the 24-hour clock. For small businesses, the most common place you will meet military time is your time clock and payroll reports.

Why Military Time Matters for Businesses

If you run payroll or track employee hours, consistent time formatting is not optional. Most time systems store time in the 24-hour format, it removes AM and PM errors, and it makes overtime calculations accurate. Without a consistent format, calculations break, overtime is miscounted, and reports become messy.

Common Military Time Mistakes

Mixing Formats

Do not mix text times, number times, and true time values in the same column. Formulas that work on one type fail on the others.

Forgetting Leading Zeros

Many systems treat 0700 and 700 differently. Always use four digits.

Converting by Hand

Manual conversions lead to errors, especially around noon and midnight. Use a formula or the converter above.

How to Set Up a Military Time Converter in Google Sheets

Put your times in column A, add the formula that matches your format in column B, and fill it down. Format column A as Time so Sheets treats the entries as time values. Open the free military time converter template and choose File > Make a copy to save your own version.

If your team still converts clock-in times by hand, the Updoot employee time clock records every punch automatically and calculates hours and overtime for you.

Final Takeaway

A military time converter is more than a convenience. It is how you keep time tracking accurate. Learn the add-12 rule, keep the chart handy, and let formulas do the converting, and you will never have to guess again.