PST — which one do you mean?
PST means 2 different things, and they are
hours apart. If you received a timestamp labelled PST, the sender's
location decides which of these applies — pick it below.
Pacific Standard Time · North America
17:15:43
Wednesday, 12 August 2026
- abbreviation denotes
- -08:00
- in force right now
- PDT (UTC-07:00) · DST
- use in code
- America/Los_Angeles
- also valid
- America/Vancouver, America/Tijuana
- next clock change
- 1 Nov 2026 01:00 → PST
Right now this zone is on PDT, not PST —
they are the same place at different times of year.
Philippine Standard Time · Asia
08:15:43
Thursday, 13 August 2026
- abbreviation denotes
- +08:00
- in force right now
- PST (UTC+08:00)
- use in code
- Asia/Manila
- next clock change
- none — fixed offset
Locally common, formally PHT. Sixteen hours from US Pacific — the single most damaging abbreviation collision in scheduling.
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/Los_Angeles"))
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'tPST questions
What does PST stand for?
PST has 2 distinct meanings in active use: Pacific Standard Time (-08:00, America/Los_Angeles); Philippine Standard Time (+08:00, Asia/Manila). Which one applies depends entirely on who wrote the timestamp.
What time is it in PST right now?
Pacific Standard Time: 17:15 on Wednesday (PDT); Philippine Standard Time: 08:15 on Thursday (PST).
Which IANA timezone should I use instead of PST?
America/Los_Angeles for Pacific Standard Time, Asia/Manila for Philippine Standard Time. 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 PDT instead of PST?
Because America/Los_Angeles is currently on PDT (UTC-07:00), its daylight-saving variant. PST (-08:00) applies during the other half of the year. Both names refer to the same place, one hour apart.