Updating current time…
CDT
12am
3am
6am
9am
12pm
3pm
6pm
9pm
CEST/CET
12am
3am
6am
9am
12pm
3pm
6pm
9pm
Central Europe is on summer time: CEST (UTC+2) until Sun, Oct 25.

Quick answers

Selected conversion

7:00 am07:00 CDT (UTC-5), Oct 18, 2026 = 2:00 pm14:00 CEST (UTC+2), Oct 18, 2026

CDT is 7 hours behind CEST.

CDT and CET examples

These examples always use CDT (UTC-5) and CET (UTC+1). They stay the same when you change the date or time above. The selected conversion may differ when daylight saving time applies.

CDT is 6 hours behind CET.

How the time difference changes

For most of the year, CDT is 7 hours behind CEST. From Oct 25 to Nov 1, 2026, and from Mar 14 to Mar 28, 2027, CDT is 6 hours behind CET. From Nov 1, 2026 to Mar 14, 2027, CST is 7 hours behind CET.

For most of the year, working hours of 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in CDT correspond to 4:00 pm to 1:00 am (next day) in CEST. At other times of the year, working hours of 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in CST correspond to 4:00 pm to 1:00 am (next day) in CET or working hours of 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in CDT correspond to 3:00 pm to 12:00 am (next day) in CET.For most of the year, working hours of 09:00 to 18:00 in CDT correspond to 16:00 to 01:00 (next day) in CEST. At other times of the year, working hours of 09:00 to 18:00 in CST correspond to 16:00 to 01:00 (next day) in CET or working hours of 09:00 to 18:00 in CDT correspond to 15:00 to 00:00 (next day) in CET.

Compare CDT time with CET time, including current local time, UTC offsets, time difference, daylight saving changes, working hours, and shareable meeting times.

Time Difference

Central Daylight Time is 7 hours behind Central European Summer Time.
7:00 am07:00 in CDT is 2:00 pm14:00 in CEST

CDT to CEST call time
Best time for a conference call or a meeting is between 9am-11am09:00-11:00 in CDT which corresponds to 4pm-6pm16:00-18:00 in CEST

7:00 am07:00 Central Daylight Time (CDT). Offset UTC -5:00 hours
2:00 pm14:00 Central European Summer Time (CEST). Offset UTC +2:00 hours

7:00 am07:00 CDT / 2:00 pm14:00 CEST

Choose an hour to update the converter. Day labels such as “next day” or “+1” are relative to the selected date in the first column. Use Up and Down arrow keys, Home or End to move between hours, then Enter or Space to select.

Hourly time comparison
CDTCEST
7:00am
8:00am
9:00am
10:00am
11:00am
12:00pm
1:00pm
2:00pm
3:00pm
4:00pm
5:00pm
6:00pm
7:00pm
8:00pm
9:00pm
10:00pm
11:00pm
12:00am next day
1:00am next day
2:00am next day
3:00am next day
4:00am next day
5:00am next day
6:00am next day
07:00
08:00
09:00
10:00
11:00
12:00
13:00
14:00
15:00
16:00
17:00
18:00
19:00
20:00
21:00
22:00
23:00
00:00 next day
01:00 next day
02:00 next day
03:00 next day
04:00 next day
05:00 next day
06:00 next day

Central Daylight Time

Offset: CDT is 5 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Countries using this time zone: Canada, Mexico, United States

Principal Cities: The largest city in the CDT time zone is Chicago in the United States, with about 2.664 million people. Other major cities in this time zone include Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth.

French: HAC - Heure Avancée du Centre

Spanish: CT - Zona Centro

Map of the areas on Central Daylight Time (CDT)
CDT part of the year

Today all shaded areas are on CDT.

Daylight Saving: Central Daylight Time (CDT) is a daylight saving/summer time zone. During winter, some places set clocks back one hour and observe Central Standard Time (CST).

123456789101112Start: Central Daylight Time (CDT) started on Sunday, March 8, 2026 at 2:00 am02:00 local time and clocks were set one hour forward to Sunday, March 8, 2026, 3:00 am03:00. Daylight saving starts annually on the second Sunday of March.

123456789101112End: Central Daylight Time (CDT) ends on Sunday, November 1, 2026 at 2:00 am02:00 local time and clocks are set one hour back to Sunday, November 1, 2026, 1:00 am01:00 local standard time instead. Daylight saving ends annually on the first Sunday of November.

See USA daylight saving time and upcoming clock changes worldwide.

CDT representations, usage and related time zones

W3C/ISO-8601: International standard covering representation and exchange of dates and time-related data
  • -05 - basic short
  • -0500 - basic
  • -05:00 - extended
Email/RFC-2822: Internet Message Format Date Standard, typically used for timestamps in email headers
  • -0500 - sign character (-) followed by a four digit time providing hours (05) and minutes (00) of the offset. Indicates an offset of five hours to the west of the zero meridian.
Military/NATO: Used by the U.S. military, Chinese military and others
  • Romeo - Military abbreviation for CDT
  • R - short form of 'Romeo'
IANA/Olson: Reflects CDT time zone boundaries defined by political bodies, primarily intended for use with computer programs and operating systems
  • America/Chicago
  • America/Indiana/Knox
  • America/Indiana/Tell_City
  • America/Knox_IN
  • America/Matamoros
  • America/Menominee
  • America/North_Dakota/Beulah
  • America/North_Dakota/Center
  • America/North_Dakota/New_Salem
  • America/Ojinaga
  • America/Rainy_River
  • America/Rankin_Inlet
  • America/Resolute
  • America/Winnipeg
  • CST6CDT
  • Canada/Central
  • US/Central
  • US/Indiana-Starke
CDT Abbreviation: Several time zones share CDT abbreviation and it could refer to these time zones
  • Central Daylight Time - UTC -5
  • Cuba Daylight Time - UTC -4
Time zones with the GMT -5 offset:
  • CDT - Central Daylight Time
  • EST - Eastern Standard Time
  • ET - Eastern Time
  • COT - Colombia Time
  • CST - Cuba Standard Time
  • EASST - Easter Island Summer Time
  • ECT - Ecuador Time
  • PET - Peru Time
  • R - Romeo Time Zone

Central European Time

Offset: CET is 1 hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Countries using this time zone: Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Vatican City

Principal Cities: The largest city in the CET time zone is Berlin in Germany, with about 3.426 million people. Other major cities in this time zone include Madrid, Algiers, Rome, Paris.

German: MEZ - Mitteleuropäische Zeit

Map of the areas on Central European Time (CET)
CET all year CET part of the year

Today the lighter areas are on UTC+2 (CEST).

Daylight Saving: This is a standard time zone. During summer, some places set clocks forward one hour for daylight saving time and observe Central European Summer Time (CEST).

123456789101112End: Central European Time (CET) ended on Sunday, March 29, 2026 at 2:00 am02:00 local time and clocks were set one hour forward to Sunday, March 29, 2026, 3:00 am03:00 local daylight time instead. Standard time ends annually on the last Sunday of March.

123456789101112Start: Central European Time (CET) starts on Sunday, October 25, 2026 at 3:00 am03:00 local time and clocks are set one hour back to Sunday, October 25, 2026, 2:00 am02:00. Standard time starts annually on the last Sunday of October.

See upcoming clock changes worldwide.

CET representations, usage and related time zones

W3C/ISO-8601: International standard covering representation and exchange of dates and time-related data
  • +01 - basic short
  • +0100 - basic
  • +01:00 - extended
Email/RFC-2822: Internet Message Format Date Standard, typically used for timestamps in email headers
  • +0100 - sign character (+) followed by a four digit time providing hours (01) and minutes (00) of the offset. Indicates an offset of one hour to the east of the zero meridian.
Military/NATO: Used by the U.S. military, Chinese military and others
  • Alpha - Military abbreviation for CET
  • A - short form of 'Alpha'
IANA/Olson: Reflects CET time zone boundaries defined by political bodies, primarily intended for use with computer programs and operating systems
  • Africa/Algiers
  • Africa/Ceuta
  • Africa/Tunis
  • Arctic/Longyearbyen
  • Atlantic/Jan_Mayen
  • CET
  • Europe/Amsterdam
  • Europe/Andorra
  • Europe/Belgrade
  • Europe/Berlin
  • Europe/Bratislava
  • Europe/Brussels
  • Europe/Budapest
  • Europe/Busingen
  • Europe/Copenhagen
  • Europe/Gibraltar
  • Europe/Ljubljana
  • Europe/Luxembourg
  • Europe/Madrid
  • Europe/Malta
  • Europe/Monaco
  • Europe/Oslo
  • Europe/Paris
  • Europe/Podgorica
  • Europe/Prague
  • Europe/Rome
  • Europe/San_Marino
  • Europe/Sarajevo
  • Europe/Skopje
  • Europe/Stockholm
  • Europe/Tirane
  • Europe/Vaduz
  • Europe/Vatican
  • Europe/Vienna
  • Europe/Warsaw
  • Europe/Zagreb
  • Europe/Zurich
  • MET
  • Poland
Time zones with the GMT +1 offset:
  • BST - British Summer Time
  • CET - Central European Time
  • IST - Irish Standard Time
  • WEST - Western European Summer Time
  • A - Alpha Time Zone
  • CET - Central European Time
  • MEZ - Mitteleuropäische Zeit
  • WAT - West Africa Time
  • WST - Western Sahara Summer Time
  • BMT - Biel Mean Time