Convert PST to UTC Pacific Standard Time ↔ Coordinated Universal Time Free Online Secure
Type a time in PST and read it in UTC straight away. The offset is +8 h, the arithmetic wraps at midnight, and the answer says which day it lands on.
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Through the day — Convert PST to UTC (Pacific Standard Time ↔ Coordinated Universal Time)
| PST | UTC |
|---|---|
| 00:00 | 08:00 |
| 03:00 | 11:00 |
| 06:00 | 14:00 |
| 09:00 | 17:00 |
| 12:00 | 20:00 |
| 15:00 | 23:00 |
| 18:00 | 02:00 |
| 21:00 | 05:00 |
Where these units come from
Until the middle of the nineteenth century every town kept its own noon, set by the sun overhead, and nobody minded that the next town was four minutes behind. Railways ended that: a timetable cannot be written for a hundred local noons. Britain put its railways on Greenwich time in 1847, and in 1884 the International Meridian Conference in Washington chose Greenwich as the prime meridian and sketched the twenty-four-hour scheme we still use. Greenwich Mean Time was the world's reference until 1972, when Coordinated Universal Time replaced it: UTC is kept by atomic clocks and tied back to the turning Earth by leap seconds. The abbreviations on this page name standard time — the winter setting — which is why each one is a fixed number of hours rather than something that drifts through the year.
Where you meet them
A time zone becomes real the moment two people in different places have to agree on one moment: a call between offices, a flight that lands before it took off, a market that opens while you are asleep, a deadline written in somebody else's afternoon. Server logs, train and flight schedules and anything stamped with a time are kept in UTC precisely so that the question can always be settled, no matter whose clock was on the wall.
Questions people ask
What about summer time?
The offsets here are standard-time offsets, the ones a zone keeps in winter. Where summer time is observed, the same places move one hour further on for part of the year and take a different name: Central European Time becomes Central European Summer Time, Eastern Standard Time becomes Eastern Daylight Time. The switching dates are not the same in every country, and the two hemispheres change in opposite months, so for a date inside a summer-time period add an hour to whichever side observes it.
Why isn't every difference a whole number of hours?
Because offsets are decided by governments, not by geometry. India is half an hour off the hour, at UTC+05:30; Nepal is three quarters, at UTC+05:45; the Chatham Islands are at UTC+12:45. Any of these can be changed by law, and several countries have moved their offset within living memory.
Is the answer exact?
Where both units are defined in terms of one another by whole numbers, yes — the page says so above the figure, and the only rounding is in how many digits are shown. Where the ratio has no finite decimal, the page shows twelve significant digits and says the relation is approximate rather than pretending otherwise.
Does anything I type leave my device?
No. The arithmetic runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded and there is no server to upload it to. Load the page once and it keeps working with the network switched off.
Reading a Pacific time on the world’s common clock
A company in California announces its results for 1:30 p.m. PST, a conference in Seattle starts its keynote at 9:00 a.m. PST, and a court in Los Angeles accepts electronic filings until midnight. Each time is given on the Pacific clock, and anyone who keeps records in UTC must convert PST to UTC to place it on the shared timeline. The rule is addition: add eight hours. 1:30 p.m. PST is 21:30 UTC, 9:00 a.m. PST is 17:00 UTC, and midnight PST is 08:00 UTC. Everything from 4:00 p.m. PST onward falls on the next calendar date in UTC.
The sections below give you the rule, two lookup tables, a profile of both zones, an account of California’s summer clock, and cases from earnings calls to court filings and ski lifts. The calculation is performed in your browser, and nothing you type is sent to a server.
How to convert PST to UTC
Add eight hours to the Pacific time
PST is UTC−8, which means UTC is eight hours ahead. Write the Pacific time on a 24-hour clock and add eight to convert PST to UTC. If the total reaches 24:00, subtract 24 and move to the next date. 20:15 PST plus eight is 28:15, which is 04:15 UTC the following day.
Eight readings to check
00:30 PST is 08:30 UTC. 06:15 PST is 14:15 UTC. 09:00 PST is 17:00 UTC. 12:00 PST is 20:00 UTC. 15:45 PST is 23:45 UTC. 18:00 PST is 02:00 UTC the next day. 21:30 PST is 05:30 UTC the next day. 23:45 PST is 07:45 UTC the next day. The first four stay on the same date.
The 4 p.m. line
When it is 16:00 on the Pacific coast, it is midnight in UTC. Any Pacific time after that hour is already tomorrow in UTC. Remember this line and you will catch most date errors before they happen, however often you convert PST to UTC.
Pacific Standard Time in documents
PST, PDT and PT
American organisations write PST, PDT or PT. PST is the winter clock, UTC−8. PDT is the summer clock, UTC−7, used from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November. PT means whichever is in force. Many people write PST all year round, even when their watches show PDT.
What a European reader should do
A notice saying “9:00 a.m. PST” in July probably means 9:00 a.m. PDT. In UTC that is 16:00, not 17:00. Always check the date before you add.
UTC for readers everywhere
One reference
UTC is the time scale of aviation, finance, science and computing. It has no daylight saving time and is not tied to any country’s law. A time written in UTC means the same thing in London, Tokyo and Sydney.
How to write it
Use the form 2026-01-20T17:00:00Z, or 17:00 UTC with the date. A Californian timestamp 2026-01-20T09:00:00-08:00 becomes this form by adding the offset, since 9 plus 8 is 17. That sum is exactly what a library does when you convert PST to UTC in code.
Eight hours and the working day
Shifts on one dial
A California team working 08:00 to 16:00 PST works from 16:00 to 00:00 UTC. A European team working 08:00 to 16:00 UTC meets it at 16:00 UTC, when the first team is beginning its day and the second is finishing. Handovers between them naturally fall at 16:00 UTC, which is what a quick convert PST to UTC reveals.
Dates in reports
A Californian report for 20 January that closes at 16:00 PST is stamped 21 January, 00:00 UTC. A European analyst comparing it with a report for 20 January sees an apparent mismatch that is only a matter of the clock.
Flying to Frankfurt
A flight leaving San Francisco at 15:30 PST, which is 23:30 UTC, and lasting about eleven hours lands at 10:30 UTC, which is 11:30 in Germany. The ticket shows 15:30 and 11:30, so the trip appears to take twenty hours.
California’s summer clock and UTC
Changing offsets
UTC never moves, while California does so twice a year. In 2026 the Pacific zone moves to PDT on 8 March and returns to PST on 1 November. Between those dates you add seven hours, not eight: 9:00 a.m. PDT is 16:00 UTC.
Effects on schedules
A task scheduled at 09:00 local time runs at 17:00 UTC in winter and at 16:00 UTC in summer if the system uses local time. If it uses UTC, the task runs at 09:00 in winter and 10:00 in summer on the California wall clock.
What the calculator does
The form above adds eight hours, the standard figure. For a date in summer, add seven. The result in UTC is exact either way; only the Californian time shifts.
Earnings calls from Silicon Valley
After the bell
Technology companies in California commonly report after the market closes, with the call at 1:30 p.m. PST or 2:00 p.m. PST. In UTC these are 21:30 and 22:00. Analysts in Europe read the headlines overnight and the transcripts the next morning.
Annual meetings
A shareholders’ meeting at 10:00 a.m. PST begins at 18:00 UTC. A shareholder in London joins at 18:00 GMT, at the end of the working day. To plan your own day, convert PST to UTC for the start and the expected close.
The Great ShakeOut and emergency drills
Ten-fifteen on a Thursday
The annual earthquake drill in California takes place at 10:15 a.m. local time on the third Thursday of October. In October the clock is PDT, so the drill falls at 17:15 UTC. Organisations abroad that join the exercise in solidarity should schedule it for 17:15 UTC and not for 18:15.
Real alerts
In a real event, alert systems stamp times in UTC and local terms. A message that reads “02:14 PST” is 10:14 UTC. Researchers who build a catalogue need to convert every Pacific entry before they merge it with global data.
Ski lifts around Lake Tahoe
Opening hours
Ski resorts around Lake Tahoe open their lifts at about 9:00 a.m. PST, which is 17:00 UTC, and close them at about 4:00 p.m., which is midnight UTC. A holidaymaker from Britain who wants to see the first chair must remember that in the UK this is mid-afternoon.
Webcams
Mountain webcams show the local clock. A photograph with the stamp 08:15 PST was taken at 16:15 UTC. If you check conditions from Europe in the evening, you are looking at the morning on the mountain.
Court filings and legal deadlines
Midnight Pacific
Electronic court filings in California are generally timed by the local clock, with the deadline at 11:59 p.m. PST. In UTC that is 07:59 on the next day. A law firm in London that files at 06:00 GMT on the day after the deadline is still within the Californian date.
Affidavits and signatures
A document signed at 5:30 p.m. PST is signed at 01:30 UTC on the next date. Lawyers in different countries sometimes dispute the signature date. A written convert PST to UTC attached to the file settles the question.
Big-wave contests on the Pacific coast
The call at dawn
Surfing contests in northern California are announced the evening before for a window opening at first light, around 7:00 a.m. PST, which is 15:00 UTC. Viewers in Europe who follow the live stream see the first heat in mid-afternoon.
Forecast hours
Swell forecasts are published in UTC. A forecast for 12:00 UTC refers to 04:00 PST, an hour when only the most dedicated surfers are out. Organisers announce the hour in local time to avoid confusion.
Telescopes and research stations
Observing programmes
Observatories in California schedule nights in UT. A night from 04:00 to 12:00 UT runs from 20:00 to 04:00 PST. Visiting astronomers need to convert PST to UTC for each night when they book flights, to avoid arriving after the dome has opened.
Data stamps
Images carry UT stamps. A photograph taken at 08:30 UT was taken at 00:30 PST. Anyone cataloguing observations from several sites must put them all on one clock.
Tourists in San Francisco
Ferries and tours
Ferries to the island prison depart from the pier from about 8:45 a.m. PST, which is 16:45 UTC. A tour booked for 10:30 a.m. leaves at 18:30 UTC. A visitor from Europe, who has just arrived, may find that these are evening hours at home.
Return flights
A flight leaving San Francisco at 8:00 p.m. PST leaves at 04:00 UTC and, after about ten hours, lands in London at 14:00 UTC. The traveller should convert the arrival time, not the departure, to plan the connection.
Every hour in one table
PST to UTC
00:00 PST becomes 08:00 UTC. 01:00 PST becomes 09:00 UTC. 02:00 PST becomes 10:00 UTC. 03:00 PST becomes 11:00 UTC. 04:00 PST becomes 12:00 UTC. 05:00 PST becomes 13:00 UTC. 06:00 PST becomes 14:00 UTC. 07:00 PST becomes 15:00 UTC. 08:00 PST becomes 16:00 UTC. 09:00 PST becomes 17:00 UTC. 10:00 PST becomes 18:00 UTC. 11:00 PST becomes 19:00 UTC. 12:00 PST becomes 20:00 UTC. 13:00 PST becomes 21:00 UTC. 14:00 PST becomes 22:00 UTC. 15:00 PST becomes 23:00 UTC. 16:00 PST becomes 00:00 UTC (next day). 17:00 PST becomes 01:00 UTC (next day). 18:00 PST becomes 02:00 UTC (next day). 19:00 PST becomes 03:00 UTC (next day). 20:00 PST becomes 04:00 UTC (next day). 21:00 PST becomes 05:00 UTC (next day). 22:00 PST becomes 06:00 UTC (next day). 23:00 PST becomes 07:00 UTC (next day).
How to read it
Each row shows a Pacific hour and the matching UTC hour, with a note when the date changes. The rows follow the eight-hour addition that applies when you convert PST to UTC.
Half-hour marks
PST to UTC at :30
00:30 PST becomes 08:30 UTC. 01:30 PST becomes 09:30 UTC. 02:30 PST becomes 10:30 UTC. 03:30 PST becomes 11:30 UTC. 04:30 PST becomes 12:30 UTC. 05:30 PST becomes 13:30 UTC. 06:30 PST becomes 14:30 UTC. 07:30 PST becomes 15:30 UTC. 08:30 PST becomes 16:30 UTC. 09:30 PST becomes 17:30 UTC. 10:30 PST becomes 18:30 UTC. 11:30 PST becomes 19:30 UTC. 12:30 PST becomes 20:30 UTC. 13:30 PST becomes 21:30 UTC. 14:30 PST becomes 22:30 UTC. 15:30 PST becomes 23:30 UTC. 16:30 PST becomes 00:30 UTC (next day). 17:30 PST becomes 01:30 UTC (next day). 18:30 PST becomes 02:30 UTC (next day). 19:30 PST becomes 03:30 UTC (next day). 20:30 PST becomes 04:30 UTC (next day). 21:30 PST becomes 05:30 UTC (next day). 22:30 PST becomes 06:30 UTC (next day). 23:30 PST becomes 07:30 UTC (next day).
Why it helps
Many meetings and broadcasts begin at half past the hour. The table gives the matching UTC time at a glance.
Ten readings with minutes
Examples
01:05 PST becomes 09:05 UTC. 03:20 PST becomes 11:20 UTC. 05:50 PST becomes 13:50 UTC. 07:35 PST becomes 15:35 UTC. 10:10 PST becomes 18:10 UTC. 13:25 PST becomes 21:25 UTC. 16:40 PST becomes 00:40 UTC (next day). 19:55 PST becomes 03:55 UTC (next day). 22:15 PST becomes 06:15 UTC (next day). 23:05 PST becomes 07:05 UTC (next day).
No change to the minutes
The offset is a whole number of hours, so the minutes in the result match the input.
What part of the day is it in UTC?
Pacific hours seen from Greenwich
06:00 PST becomes 14:00 UTC (afternoon). 08:00 PST becomes 16:00 UTC (afternoon). 10:00 PST becomes 18:00 UTC (evening). 12:00 PST becomes 20:00 UTC (evening). 14:00 PST becomes 22:00 UTC (night). 16:00 PST becomes 00:00 UTC (night). 18:00 PST becomes 02:00 UTC (night). 20:00 PST becomes 04:00 UTC (night). 22:00 PST becomes 06:00 UTC (early morning).
Using the list
The words in brackets describe the part of the day at Greenwich. They help you choose an hour that is polite for a European audience.
The American zones towards UTC
How far each zone sits from UTC
Eastern time is five hours from UTC, Central six, Mountain seven and Pacific eight; Alaska is nine and Hawaii ten. During daylight saving each of these gaps shrinks by one hour for the zones that observe it.
The same instant in five cities
While Los Angeles shows 10:00, Denver shows 11:00, Chicago 12:00 and New York 13:00, and UTC reads 18:00. Putting all five in an invitation spares readers a separate convert PST to UTC.
Dated examples
A January Wednesday
At 13:00 PST on 21 January, UTC reads 21:00. With no daylight saving, eight hours apply.
A March Wednesday
At 13:00 on a California clock on 18 March, the label is PDT and UTC reads 20:00. Only seven hours apply, because California moved on 8 March.
A July Wednesday
At 13:00 PDT on 22 July, UTC reads 20:00. Seven hours apply all summer.
A November Wednesday
At 13:00 PST on 4 November, UTC reads 21:00, since California returned to standard time on 1 November.
Checklist: how to convert PST to UTC
Preparation
Middle letter
The S in PST stands for standard and the D in PDT for daylight. If the source writes only PT, consult the calendar: from 8 March to 1 November it is PDT, UTC−7.
Clock format
Twenty-four hours removes the a.m. and p.m. slips. 4:45 p.m. becomes 16:45, and 12:00 a.m. becomes 00:00.
The sum
Adding the offset
Eight hours in winter. When the total passes 24:00, subtract 24 and advance the date.
Sanity check
16:00 PST has to give midnight UTC. If your method gives anything else, something is off.
Hospitals and health networks on the coast
Clinic hours seen from Europe
Large health systems in California schedule video appointments for patients abroad. A slot at 7:00 a.m. PST is at 15:00 UTC, and one at 9:00 a.m. is at 17:00 UTC. A patient in Britain can attend after the working day. Records, however, carry Pacific time, and a lab result stamped 6:45 a.m. PST was produced at 14:45 UTC.
Medication schedules
A prescription to be taken “at 8 p.m. Pacific” corresponds to 04:00 UTC the next day. A traveller who moves between zones must decide which clock to follow and keep it for the whole course. If you convert PST to UTC for each dose, you will not lose a day.
Public holidays and the Pacific calendar
Where the date matters
American public holidays are observed on the local date. A deadline “before Thanksgiving, 5:00 p.m. PST” falls at 01:00 UTC on the next day. For a supplier in Europe, that is the Friday morning after the holiday. The distinction between the Californian date and the UTC date can move a payment by a day.
Closing days
Offices on the West Coast close early on the day after Thanksgiving, often at 1:00 p.m. PST, or 21:00 UTC. A reply that was due “by end of day” in California may therefore never arrive in the European morning.
Mistakes when you convert PST to UTC
Wrong direction
UTC is in front of California, so the answer should be larger than the Pacific hour. A smaller number means a subtraction slipped in.
The Eastern figure
Five hours is the Eastern gap. For California the figure is eight.
The date left behind
18:00 PST is 02:00 UTC on the next date. If the date stays put, the answer is a full day out.
Summer labelled as winter
July notices that say PST are normally PDT, so seven hours apply.
Frequently asked questions
By how much do PST and UTC differ?
By eight hours: UTC is ahead.
Which formula applies when I convert PST to UTC?
The Pacific hour plus eight, minus 24 when the total reaches 24.
How much is 4:45 p.m. PST in UTC?
00:45 UTC on the following date.
When is the difference seven hours?
While California is on PDT: from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November.
Is what I type stored?
No. Everything is processed in your browser.
More time zone converters
Further pages: Convert PST to CST, Convert PST to EST, Convert EET to UTC, Convert CET to UTC, Convert UTC to EST, Convert EET to PST, Convert WET to EST, Convert CST to EST, Convert CST to IST. The opposite direction lives at Convert UTC to PST.
To summarise, a request to convert PST to UTC means adding eight hours, minding the 4 p.m. line and allowing for daylight saving. The work stays on your device, without sign-up.