UTC offset

The UTC offset is the difference in hours and minutes from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) for a particular place and date. It is generally shown in the format ±[hh]:[mm], ±[hh][mm], or ±[hh]. So if the time being described is one hour ahead of UTC (such as the time in Berlin during the winter), the UTC offset would be "+01:00", "+0100", or simply "+01".

Time zones and time offsets

A time zone is a geographical region where almost everyone observes the same standard time.

A time offset is an amount of time subtracted from or added to UTC to get the current civil time - whether it's standard time or Daylight saving time.

In any particular time zone residents either observe standard time all year round (as in Russia or South Africa) OR they observe standard time in winter and daylight time in summer.

Daylight saving time

Several regions in North America, Europe and Australia use daylight saving time (DST). The UTC offset during observation of DST is typically obtained by adding one hour to standard time. Central European Time UTC+01:00 is replaced by Central European Summer Time UTC+02:00, and Pacific Standard Time UTC−08:00 is replaced by Pacific Daylight Time UTC−07:00.

See also

• ISO 8601 - international standard for representing dates and times.
• List of UTC time offsets

External links

• Time Service Dept., U.S. Naval Observatory