Time Duration Calculator
Calculate hours and minutes between two times, with break subtraction and overnight-shift support.
What is a Time Duration?
A time duration is the elapsed interval between two clock times — for example, 9:00 to 17:30 is a duration of eight hours and thirty minutes. Calculating it sounds trivial but there are three places where simple subtraction goes wrong: shifts that cross midnight (end time numerically earlier than start), unpaid breaks that have to be subtracted from the worked total, and converting between the hours-and-minutes humans read and the decimal hours payroll software expects. This calculator handles all three. Pick a start and end, optionally enter break minutes, and you'll get the duration in HH:MM, decimal hours (e.g. 7.5h), and raw minutes — all updating instantly as you adjust the inputs. For longer intervals spanning multiple days, use the Day of Week Calculator or the Age Calculator instead.
Start time
End time
Break (minutes)
None
15m
30m
45m
60m
90m
Time format
7h00m
7.00 decimal hours·420 total minutes
After 60-min break · gross 8.00 h
How to use this tool
- 1Enter start and end timesUse the time pickers in either 12-hour or 24-hour format. The duration updates as you type.
- 2Add break minutes if anySubtract unpaid lunch or other breaks from the gross duration to get worked time.
- 3Toggle midnight crossing for overnight shiftsWhen the end time falls on the next day (e.g. 22:00 to 06:00), flip the switch.
- 4Read all three formatsHours-and-minutes for humans, decimal hours for payroll, total minutes for any other math.