Time in Ottawa
The current local time and date in Ottawa, its time zone, and a converter to your own time.
Detecting your time zone to suggest the best hour to call…
Ottawa, Canada's capital, runs on Eastern Time, the same zone as Toronto and Montreal, switching between EST (UTC-5) and EDT (UTC-4).
Ottawa uses UTC-5 in winter (standard time) and shifts to UTC-4 in summer when daylight saving time is active.
Compare to your time zone
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Compare Ottawa with another city
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See also: Population of Canada
Popular time comparisons
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FAQ
What time is it in Ottawa right now?
Ottawa is on UTC-5 in winter and UTC-4 during daylight saving time in summer, which is 5 hours behind UTC. So when it is 12:00 UTC, the local time in Ottawa is 07:00 in winter and 08:00 in summer. The live clock at the top of this page applies that offset to the current moment and refreshes every second.
What time zone is Ottawa in?
Ottawa uses the America/Toronto time zone, shown as EDT. Ottawa uses UTC-5 in winter (standard time) and shifts to UTC-4 in summer when daylight saving time is active. The "compare to your time zone" section above converts any Ottawa time into your own local time instantly.
Does Ottawa observe daylight saving time?
Yes — Ottawa does observe daylight saving time. Clocks move forward one hour in summer, taking Ottawa from UTC-5 to UTC-4, and back again for winter. That means the difference between Ottawa and any place holding a fixed offset changes by an hour for part of the year. This page reads the current offset from the America/Toronto zone data every time it loads, so the clock, the converter and the call window above are correct for today's date without you tracking the changeover.
How do I convert Ottawa time to my time zone?
Convert Ottawa time by taking its UTC-5 offset and applying the difference to your own: subtract Ottawa's offset from UTC to get the UTC time, then add your own offset. For example, 09:00 in Ottawa is 14:00 UTC. The converter above does this automatically after detecting your device's time zone, and the World Clock meeting planner lays several cities out on one colour-coded 24-hour grid.
What is the dialing code for Ottawa?
The dialing code for Ottawa is +1. To call from abroad, dial +1 before the local number. The card at the top of this page shows it alongside the live local time so you can check it is a reasonable hour before you call.
What are the best hours to call Ottawa?
Standard business hours in Ottawa — 9:00 to 17:00 local time — correspond to 14:00 to 22:00 UTC while standard time is in effect, shifting one hour earlier in UTC terms during daylight saving. Convert that UTC window into your own zone to find the overlap. The "best time to call" line above does this for you, using waking hours of roughly 8am–9pm on both ends so neither side is called at night.
Learn how time zones work
UTC & GMT explained · Daylight saving explained · How to convert a time between two cities