Calculate exactly how many hours and minutes have elapsed between a start time and an end time.
Total Duration
8h 0m
or 480 total minutes
Decimal Format
8.00 hours
Perfect for calculating payroll
Time Passed
09:00 17:00
Last updated: August 2026
The Best Way to Calculate Timesheets
If you manage hourly employees or track your own billable freelance hours, converting clock-in and clock-out times into total hours worked is a daily chore. Our Time Duration Calculator automates this math flawlessly.
How the Calculation Works
The tool converts both times into total minutes since midnight, then subtracts the start from the end:
End Time (minutes) − Start Time (minutes) = Duration (minutes)
If that result is negative — meaning the end time is earlier in the clock than the start time — the tool assumes the shift crossed midnight and adds 24 hours (1,440 minutes) to correct it.
Worked Example
Start: 9:00 AM, End: 5:00 PM
9:00 AM = 540 minutes since midnight. 5:00 PM = 1,020 minutes since midnight.
1,020 − 540 = 480 minutes = 8 hours 0 minutes.
Decimal format: 480 ÷ 60 = 8.00 hours.
Overnight example — Start: 10:00 PM, End: 6:00 AM:
10:00 PM = 1,320 minutes. 6:00 AM = 360 minutes.
360 − 1,320 = −960, which is negative, so add 1,440 → 480 minutes = 8 hours.
Automatic Decimal Conversion
The trickiest part of timesheet math is converting minutes into payroll decimals. For instance, working 8 hours and 15 minutes is not "8.15 hours" for payroll—it's actually 8.25 hours (because 15 minutes is a quarter of an hour). Our tool does this conversion automatically, saving you from payroll calculation errors.
Common Minute-to-Decimal Conversions
15 minutes = 0.25 hours
30 minutes = 0.50 hours
45 minutes = 0.75 hours
10 minutes = 0.17 hours
20 minutes = 0.33 hours
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! If you enter a start time in the evening (e.g., 10:00 PM) and an end time in the morning (e.g., 6:00 AM), the calculator automatically detects that the shift crossed midnight and correctly calculates the 8-hour duration.
Decimal format (like 8.5 hours instead of 8 hours 30 minutes) is the standard format required for calculating payroll. You simply multiply the decimal format by the hourly wage to get total pay.
Absolutely. Subtracting times manually in your head often leads to errors because time uses a base-60 system rather than base-10. For example, 5:30 minus 4:45 requires borrowing 60 minutes instead of 10.
Divide the minutes by 60. For example, 15 minutes ÷ 60 = 0.25, 30 minutes ÷ 60 = 0.5, and 45 minutes ÷ 60 = 0.75. Add that decimal to the whole number of hours.
The calculator returns a duration of 0 hours 0 minutes. If you meant a full 24-hour shift instead, enter an end time one minute earlier or later so the overnight-crossing logic can detect the wraparound.
This tool calculates one continuous block of time between a single start and end. For a shift with a lunch break, run it twice — once for the morning segment and once for the afternoon segment — then add the two decimal totals together.
Yes. The time picker uses your browser's native 24-hour or 12-hour time input (depending on your device/locale settings), so AM/PM or 24-hour format is handled for you — you don't need to specify it separately.
This tool measures hours and minutes within a single day (like a work shift). The Business Days Calculator instead counts whole weekdays between two calendar dates, excluding weekends and holidays — useful for longer date ranges rather than a single day's clock time.
