Convert any time between Brasília and the world's major cities, or between any two cities. The calculation accounts for daylight saving time on the chosen date and lets you compare up to 4 time zones at once.
Right now: Brasília and the world's major cities
| City | Time now | Day | Offset | Difference from Brasília |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| São Paulo (Brasília) | 20:37:26 | UTC-3 | Same time as Brasília | |
| New York | 19:37:26 | UTC-4 | 1 hour behind Brasília | |
| Los Angeles | 16:37:26 | UTC-7 | 4 hours behind Brasília | |
| Lisbon | 00:37:26 | UTC+1 | 4 hours ahead of Brasília | |
| London | 00:37:26 | UTC+1 | 4 hours ahead of Brasília | |
| Paris | 01:37:26 | UTC+2 | 5 hours ahead of Brasília | |
| Moscow | 02:37:26 | UTC+3 | 6 hours ahead of Brasília | |
| Dubai | 03:37:26 | UTC+4 | 7 hours ahead of Brasília | |
| Mumbai | 05:07:26 | UTC+5:30 | 8.5 hours ahead of Brasília | |
| Beijing | 07:37:26 | UTC+8 | 11 hours ahead of Brasília | |
| Tokyo | 08:37:26 | UTC+9 | 12 hours ahead of Brasília | |
| Sydney | 09:37:26 | UTC+10 | 13 hours ahead of Brasília |
How to convert a time between time zones
Every time zone is defined by its offset from UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). Brasília is at UTC-3 all year, so 12:00 in Brasília is 15:00 UTC. To convert between any two places, go through UTC: take the local time, subtract the origin's offset to get UTC, then add the destination's offset. A shortcut for two cities: subtract the origin's offset from the destination's, and add the difference to the time you have.
Worked examples
- Brasília to New York: 12:00 in Brasília is 15:00 UTC. New York is UTC-5 in winter (EST) and UTC-4 in summer (EDT), so it is 10:00 or 11:00 respectively.
- Brasília to London: 12:00 becomes 15:00 UTC, which is 15:00 in London in winter (GMT) and 16:00 in summer (BST, UTC+1).
- Brasília to Tokyo: Japan is UTC+9 with no daylight saving, so 12:00 in Brasília is 00:00 the next day in Tokyo.
- Tokyo to Lisbon: 09:00 in Tokyo is 00:00 UTC, which is 00:00 in Lisbon in winter or 01:00 in summer.
Daylight saving time pitfalls
Brazil abolished daylight saving time in 2019, but the United States, Canada, most of Europe and a few other countries still change their clocks. The result is that the gap between Brasília and those places is not constant: New York is 2 hours behind Brasília in winter but only 1 hour behind in summer. The southern-hemisphere countries that use DST, such as Chile and Paraguay, shift in the opposite season.
Two more traps matter for scheduling. First, the United States and Europe do not switch on the same weekend (the US changes on the second Sunday of March, Europe on the last), so for about three weeks the gap is unusual. Second, a wall-clock time can be invalid or doubled on the switch day: 2:30 am does not exist when the clocks jump forward, and 1:30 am happens twice when they go back. This converter flags both cases. Always convert for the date of the event, not for today.
12-hour vs 24-hour time
Brazil, most of Europe and Asia use the 24-hour format (14:30), while the United States, Canada and Australia mostly use 12 hours with AM and PM (2:30 PM). Be careful with 12:00 AM (midnight, start of the day) and 12:00 PM (noon): they are the most misread times in international scheduling. When in doubt, write the 24-hour time and the UTC offset, for example "14:30 UTC-3".
Tips for international meetings
Send invitations with both time zones and a clear date. For a meeting among several cities, add them as extra zones above and look for a time that falls between 9:00 and 18:00 for everyone; our meeting planner does this visually. To compare cities live, see the world time page, and for the basics of offsets read the time zones guide. Details on clock changes are in daylight saving time by country, and the current UTC time is on the UTC time page.