Time ZonesAbout this time zone
Sydney is one of the 12 time zone areas of Australia. Computers and phones know it by the zone name Australia/Sydney. Its time is UTC+11 in January and UTC+10 in July, because the clocks are changed during the year. The short names used for this time are AEDT and AEST. Compared with India (IST), it is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of India in January and 4 hours 30 minutes ahead of India in July.
Clock changes in 2026 and 2027
Sydney changes its clocks during the year. These are the changes for 2026 and 2027, worked out from the rules in the IANA time zone database.
| Clock change (local time) | New offset |
|---|---|
| Sunday 5 April 2026: at 3:00 am clocks go back 1 hour to 2:00 am | UTC+10 (AEST) |
| Sunday 4 October 2026: at 2:00 am clocks go forward 1 hour to 3:00 am | UTC+11 (AEDT) |
| Sunday 4 April 2027: at 3:00 am clocks go back 1 hour to 2:00 am | UTC+10 (AEST) |
| Sunday 3 October 2027: at 2:00 am clocks go forward 1 hour to 3:00 am | UTC+11 (AEDT) |
Governments sometimes change these rules at short notice. Check an official source before fixing travel or meetings far ahead.
Counting from those dates, the clocks in Sydney stay forward for 182 days, from 4 October 2026 to 4 April 2027. That is about 26 weeks, or 50% of a year, on UTC+11 and the rest on UTC+10. The forward period runs across the new year, because summer in the southern half of the world falls in December and January.
Time difference with major cities
| When it is 12:00 noon in Sydney, it is | In January 2026 | In July 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| India | 6:30 am5 hours 30 minutes behind | 7:30 am4 hours 30 minutes behind |
| United Kingdom | 1:00 am11 hours behind | 3:00 am9 hours behind |
| France | 2:00 am10 hours behind | 4:00 am8 hours behind |
| New York, United States | 8:00 pm previous day16 hours behind | 10:00 pm previous day14 hours behind |
| Chicago, United States | 7:00 pm previous day17 hours behind | 9:00 pm previous day15 hours behind |
| Los Angeles, United States | 5:00 pm previous day19 hours behind | 7:00 pm previous day17 hours behind |
| United Arab Emirates | 5:00 am7 hours behind | 6:00 am6 hours behind |
| Singapore | 9:00 am3 hours behind | 10:00 am2 hours behind |
| Japan | 10:00 am2 hours behind | 11:00 am1 hour behind |
The table uses the offsets in force in mid January and mid July 2026. Use the converter for any other date.
Clock time and sun time in Sydney
A time zone is an agreement, and the sun does not follow it exactly. Sydney, the largest city in this zone, lies at about 151.2° east. Each degree of longitude is worth four minutes, so by the sun alone its time would be about 10 hours 5 minutes ahead of UTC. The clock is set to UTC+10. The sun is therefore highest in the sky at about 11:55 am by the clock on standard time, and at about 12:55 pm while the clocks are moved (UTC+11). That is a close match: clock and sun agree to within a quarter of an hour. Other places in the zone, to the east or west of Sydney, see the sun peak a little earlier or later. Through the year the figure also drifts by up to a quarter of an hour either way.
How long the day is
Sydney is about 33.9° south of the equator. On the longest day of the year, around 21 December, the sun is up for about 14 hours 25 minutes. On the shortest, around 21 June, for about 9 hours 54 minutes. That swing of about 4 hours 31 minutes between summer and winter is the reason clocks are moved here: the extra summer daylight is shifted from the early morning to the evening.
Office hours shared with other places
If both sides work from 9 am to 6 pm, these are the hours when a call falls inside the working day at both ends. Times are for Sydney.
- With India, in January: 2:30 pm to 6:00 pm here, which is 9:00 am to 12:30 pm in India (3 hours 30 minutes shared). In July: 1:30 pm to 6:00 pm here, which is 9:00 am to 1:30 pm in India (4 hours 30 minutes shared).
- With London, in January: no shared office hour: 9:00 am here is 10:00 pm in London, and 6:00 pm here is 7:00 am there, so one side has to start early or stay late. In July: no shared office hour: 9:00 am here is 12:00 am in London, and 6:00 pm here is 9:00 am there, so one side has to start early or stay late.
- With New York, in January: 9:00 am to 10:00 am here, which is 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm in New York (1 hour shared). In July: no shared office hour: 9:00 am here is 7:00 pm in New York, and 6:00 pm here is 4:00 am there, so one side has to start early or stay late.
How many people keep this time
The GeoNames list has 25 towns and cities of 15,000 people or more in this zone area, with about 7.9 million people between them. People in villages and smaller towns are not in that count, so the true number on this clock is higher.
Cities that keep this time
The largest cities in this zone: Sydney, Newcastle, Canberra, Central Coast, Wollongong, Maitland, Tuggeranong, Coffs Harbour, Pittwater, Port Macquarie, Tamworth, Dubbo, Orange, Bathurst.
Places with exactly the same time
These zones show the same time as Sydney through the whole year: Hobart, Australia, Melbourne, Australia.
The clock above uses your device's clock and the time zone rules built into your browser. Rules on this page: IANA time zone database 2026f. See About and data sources.