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America/Toronto time zone

8:09AMEST

ESTUTC−5+0 h vs New York (you)

About America/Toronto

America/Toronto is the IANA time zone for Eastern: ON & QC (most areas) in Canada and Bahamas. It currently keeps Eastern Standard Time (EST, UTC−5) in winter and Eastern Daylight Time (EDT, UTC−4) in summer.

The zone serves 2 countries or territories because their clocks have agreed since 1970; tzdata lists them together in zone1970.tab. That says nothing about borders or sovereignty, as the file’s header points out.

Its principal location is Toronto at 43.65° N, 79.38° W.

Abbreviations in use: EST, EDT. Offset page: UTC−5.

Rule for future years (POSIX TZ string)

EST5EDT,M3.2.0,M11.1.0

The standard time is called EST and is UTC−5. POSIX writes the offset with the opposite sign (west of Greenwich is positive), which is why the string says "5". Daylight saving time is called EDT and is UTC−4. It starts on the second Sunday of March at 02:00 and ends on the first Sunday of November at 02:00, local time. Software that has no full tzdata copy, such as many embedded devices, can use this string directly as the TZ environment variable.

Upcoming transitions

Computed from tzdata 2026f; local times are read on the clock just before each change.

History of America/Toronto since 1970

The record starts with local mean time (UTC−5:18), which ended on December 31, 1894. The first daylight saving time in the record is in 1918.

YearsClocksAbbreviations
1970 onwardUTC−5 in winter, UTC−4 in summerEST, EDT

Before 1970

95 offset changes before 1970 in the record; the first 12 and the last 12:

tzdata commits to accuracy from 1970 for every zone (zone1970.tab); earlier entries are historical research and may be incomplete.

Aliases and zones with the same clock

These older or country-specific IDs are links to America/Toronto in tzdata. Their pages redirect here: America/Montreal, America/Nassau, America/Nipigon, America/Thunder_Bay, Canada/Eastern.

Other zones that keep exactly the same time under the current rules (but have a different history): America/Detroit, America/Grand_Turk, America/Indiana/Indianapolis, America/Indiana/Marengo, America/Indiana/Petersburg, America/Indiana/Vevay, America/Indiana/Vincennes, America/Indiana/Winamac, America/Iqaluit, America/Kentucky/Louisville, America/Kentucky/Monticello, America/New_York.

Places on America/Toronto

Convert Toronto time

Tip: Alt+↑/↓ steps the time by 15 minutes (Shift: one hour). The link keeps the date, time and direction.

Using America/Toronto in code

Every major platform reads the same IANA ID. Store instants in UTC and convert with the ID at display time; never store a fixed offset for a place that has daylight saving time.

// JavaScript
new Date().toLocaleString('en-US', { timeZone: 'America/Toronto' })

# Python 3.9+
from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo
from datetime import datetime
datetime.now(ZoneInfo('America/Toronto'))

// Java
java.time.ZonedDateTime.now(java.time.ZoneId.of("America/Toronto"))

// Go
loc, _ := time.LoadLocation("America/Toronto")
time.Now().In(loc)

-- PostgreSQL
SELECT now() AT TIME ZONE 'America/Toronto';

# Shell
TZ='America/Toronto' date

Platforms ship their own copy of tzdata and update it on their own schedule. After a rule change, outputs can differ until the platform updates; this page uses tzdata 2026f.

Questions

What is the UTC offset of America/Toronto?
UTC−5 in winter and UTC−4 in summer (daylight saving time from the second Sunday of March at 2:00 AM to the first Sunday of November at 2:00 AM).
Does America/Toronto observe daylight saving time?
Yes: clocks move one hour forward on the second Sunday of March at 2:00 AM and back on the first Sunday of November at 2:00 AM.
Is America/Montreal the same as America/Toronto?
Yes. America/Montreal, America/Nassau, America/Nipigon, America/Thunder_Bay and Canada/Eastern are a link (alias) to America/Toronto in tzdata and give the same time since 1970. They remain valid IDs.
Which countries use America/Toronto?
Canada and Bahamas, according to zone1970.tab in tzdata.

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