EST: which one do you mean?
EST means 2 different things, and they are hours apart. If you received a timestamp labelled EST, the sender's location decides which of these applies, so pick it below.
Eastern Standard Time · North America
21:45:47
Saturday, 26 September 2026
- abbreviation denotes
- -05:00
- in force right now
- EDT (UTC-04:00) · DST
- use in code
- America/New_York
- also valid
- America/Toronto, America/Detroit
- next clock change
- 1 Nov 2026 01:00 → EST
US and Canadian east coast, winter half of the year.
Right now this zone is on EDT, not EST. They are the same place at different times of year.
Eastern Standard Time (Australia) · Oceania
11:45:47
Sunday, 27 September 2026
- abbreviation denotes
- +10:00
- in force right now
- AEST (UTC+10:00)
- use in code
- Australia/Sydney
- next clock change
- 4 Oct 2026 03:00 → AEDT
Historic Australian usage, now written AEST to avoid the clash.
Right now this zone is on AEST, not EST. They are the same place at different times of year.
Use the IANA name, not the abbreviation
Python
from datetime import datetime
from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo
# right: an IANA zone carries the full history of rule changes
now = datetime.now(ZoneInfo("America/New_York"))
print(now.isoformat(), now.tzname())
# wrong: an abbreviation is not resolvable, and a hard-coded offset
# silently rots the next time the rules change
# now = datetime.now(timezone(timedelta(hours=...))) # don'tEST questions
What does EST stand for?
EST has 2 distinct meanings in active use: Eastern Standard Time (-05:00, America/New_York); Eastern Standard Time (Australia) (+10:00, Australia/Sydney). Which one applies depends entirely on who wrote the timestamp.
What time is it in EST right now?
Eastern Standard Time: 21:45 on Saturday (EDT); Eastern Standard Time (Australia): 11:45 on Sunday (AEST).
Which IANA timezone should I use instead of EST?
America/New_York for Eastern Standard Time, Australia/Sydney for Eastern Standard Time (Australia). Date libraries cannot resolve bare abbreviations, and an abbreviation carries no daylight-saving history, so a stored offset silently rots when a government changes the rules.
Why does my computer show EDT instead of EST?
Because America/New_York is currently on EDT (UTC-04:00), its daylight-saving variant. EST (-05:00) applies during the other half of the year. Both names refer to the same place, one hour apart.