Convert CET (Central European Time) to EST (Eastern Standard Time)

Best time to schedule a meeting

Standard 9–5 working hours overlap for 2 hours: 3:00 PM–5:00 PM CET (9:00 AM–11:00 AM EST). Schedule meetings inside that window.

CET to EST conversion table

About CET

Central European Time (CET) is UTC+1. It is used in Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Rome and Warsaw in winter.

Central European Time is UTC+1 and covers most of continental Europe in winter — Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Rome, Warsaw. It is worth noting how much of the continent this is: Spain sits geographically west of Britain but runs an hour ahead of it, a legacy of a 1940 decision that was never reversed. From late March to late October the same countries are on CEST, UTC+2.

About EST

Eastern Standard Time (EST) is UTC−5. It is used in New York, Toronto, Miami and Atlanta in winter.

Eastern Standard Time is UTC−5 and applies in New York, Toronto, Miami and Atlanta only from November to March. For the other eight months those cities are on EDT, UTC−4. Americans routinely write "EST" year-round to mean "east coast time", so a date given as EST in July is usually meant as EDT and is an hour earlier than written — one of the most common scheduling errors there is. Note also that Panama and Jamaica are on UTC−5 all year and never switch.

Does this gap change with the seasons?

This gap is seasonal. The abbreviations themselves are fixed offsets, but the region on CET switches to CEST (UTC+2) from late March to late October, and the region on EST switches to EDT (UTC−4) from March to November. So the 6-hour figure on this page is correct for the part of the year when both places are actually on these abbreviations, and changes by an hour outside it.

Because both sides shift, there are also short windows each spring and autumn when one has changed and the other has not — the two regions do not switch on the same date. A recurring meeting set during one of those windows is an hour out for a week or two, which is the most common way this catches people.

This is the reason scheduling systems store an IANA zone such as Region/City rather than an offset or an abbreviation: the zone knows its own rules and the offset does not.

Frequently asked questions