Convert EST to GMT
To convert EST to GMT: 9:00 AM EST is 2:00 PM GMT. EST is UTC-05:00 and GMT is UTC+00:00, so GMT is 5 hours ahead of EST, but not all year, as explained below.
In Greenwich Mean Time
- On a 24-hour clock
- 09:00 EST is 14:00 GMT
- The offsets
- EST is UTC-05:00, GMT is UTC+00:00
- Difference
- GMT is 5 hours ahead of EST
- Date
- Same calendar day.
- This gap does NOT hold all year Convert through the offset in force on the date you care about.
- The two ends switch on different dates, or one does not switch at all.
- EST is only in force part of the year United States: daylight time starts the second Sunday in March, at 02:00 local time and ends the first Sunday in November, at 02:00 local time (Energy Policy Act of 2005, in force since 2007). In 2026 that is 2026-03-08 to 2026-11-01. New York is on EDT between those dates.
- otherwise EDT, UTC-04:00
- Military time zone letters Z (Zulu) is UTC. A to M run east of Greenwich an hour apart, N to Y west, and J is left out. A letter names an offset, so a zone that switches to daylight time changes letter: EST is R, EDT is Q.
- EST is R (Romeo), GMT is Z (Zulu)
- In Zulu notation Four digits on a 24-hour clock, no colon, then Z for UTC.
- 1400Z
- In every zone
- HST 04:00 AKST 05:00 PST 06:00 AKDT 06:00 MST 07:00 PDT 07:00 CST 08:00 MDT 08:00 EST 09:00 CDT 09:00 EDT 10:00 UTC 14:00 GMT 14:00 BST 15:00 CET 15:00 CEST 16:00 EET 16:00 EEST 17:00 MSK 17:00 IST 19:30 SGT 22:00 HKT 22:00 JST 23:00 AEST 00:00 AEDT 01:00 NZST 02:00 NZDT 03:00
How the Time Zone Converter works
Eastern Standard Time (EST) is UTC-05:00 and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is UTC+00:00, so converting EST to GMT means adding 5 hours to the EST time. GMT is 5 hours ahead of EST.
Worked through: 9:00 AM EST is 2:00 PM GMT.
The gap between these two is not the same all year, which is the thing to get right. the two zones switch on different dates (EST under the United States rule and GMT under the European Union and United Kingdom one), so the difference moves. Convert through the offset in force on the date you care about rather than through the abbreviation somebody typed; the offsets above are definitions and the abbreviation is a claim about the calendar.
Nominally five hours forward, and the pair where both ends move on different dates, which is the subtle problem. The US switches on the second Sunday in March and the EU on the last, so for those three weeks New York is on EDT while London is still on GMT and the gap is four hours rather than five. The same thing happens in reverse for the week between the EU's October switch and America's November one. Twice a year there is a window where every recurring transatlantic meeting is an hour out, and it is always the same two or three weeks.
One thing worth stating plainly, because it is the most common mistake in this whole subject: an abbreviation is not a place. EST is Eastern Standard Time, which New York uses only part of the year; the rest of the time it is on EDT at UTC-04:00. GMT is likewise only in force for part of the year in London and Dublin in winter; otherwise it is BST at UTC+01:00. If what you have is a city and a date rather than a pair of abbreviations, that is a different question and needs the tz database, not arithmetic. This is also why the shifting designations exist: ET means Eastern time whichever of the two is in force. Searching for ET and searching for EST to GMT are the same question in two vocabularies, which is why this converter answers both.
Common times for this pair:
- 8:00 AM EST is 1:00 PM GMT - 9:00 AM EST is 2:00 PM GMT - 12:00 PM EST is 5:00 PM GMT - 4:00 PM EST is 9:00 PM GMT
Time Zone Converter FAQ
What is the time difference between EST and GMT?
GMT is 5 hours ahead of EST. EST is UTC-05:00 and GMT is UTC+00:00, and both offsets are definitions rather than measurements, so the subtraction is exact.
What time is 9:00 AM EST in GMT?
9:00 AM EST is 2:00 PM GMT. Add 5 hours and carry the date if it crosses midnight.
Does the difference between EST and GMT change with daylight saving?
Yes, and this is the main thing to watch on this pair. the two switch under different rules and on different dates, so the difference takes more than one value across the year. In 2026 the United States switch runs from 2026-03-08 to 2026-11-01.
Is there anything specific to this pair worth knowing?
Nominally five hours forward, and the pair where both ends move on different dates, which is the subtle problem. The US switches on the second Sunday in March and the EU on the last, so for those three weeks New York is on EDT while London is still on GMT and the gap is four hours rather than five. The same thing happens in reverse for the week between the EU's October switch and America's November one. Twice a year there is a window where every recurring transatlantic meeting is an hour out, and it is always the same two or three weeks.
Someone wrote EST but it is summer. What do they mean?
Almost certainly the zone rather than the abbreviation: New York time, which in summer is EDT at UTC-04:00 rather than EST at UTC-05:00. People type the standard-time abbreviation all year round. If an invitation is an hour out from what you calculated, this is why.