0300 military time is 3:00 AM
0300 military time is 3:00 AM, or three o'clock in the morning. It is said aloud as "zero three hundred". It is in the small hours of the night, 3 hours after midnight and 21 hours before the next midnight. With a colon, in the 24-hour clock most of the world writes, it is 03:00.
- Standard time
- 3:00 AM
- Said aloud
- zero three hundred
- 24-hour clock
- 03:00
- Part of the day
- Night
- After midnight
- 3 hours
- Until midnight
- 21 hours
How to convert 0300 military time to standard time
0300 is a morning time, so the hour does not change: take the leading zero off the 03, keep the 00, and add AM. That gives 3:00 AM. Every military time from 0100 to 0959 converts this way, which is why the leading zero matters: it tells you the time is before 1000 and before noon. To go back from 3:00 AM to military time, put the zero in front again and drop the AM: 0300.
How to say 0300
0300 is said "zero three hundred". The hour is read as "zero three", with the zero spoken aloud, and the 00 minutes become "hundred", which is why on-the-hour times sound like round numbers. You will hear "zero three hundred hours" too; the word is common in speech, though Army correspondence rules (AR 25-50, paragraph 1-26) leave it out in writing.
Hours from 0300 to common times
Timesheets ask this more than anything else: how long is it from 0300 to the end of the day, or from the start of a shift to 0300? The table counts the time in the natural direction, from the earlier time to the later one, and gives decimal hours for payroll.
| Between | Hours and minutes | Decimal hours |
|---|---|---|
| From 0000 (midnight, start of the day) to 0300 | 3 hours | 3 |
| From 0300 to 0900 | 6 hours | 6 |
| From 0300 to 1200 (noon) | 9 hours | 9 |
| From 0300 to 1700 | 14 hours | 14 |
| From 0300 to 2400 (midnight, end of the day) | 21 hours | 21 |
Open the converter with 0300 filled in
Times near 0300
The quarter hours of the hour before, the hour itself and the hour after, so you can read off a time a few minutes either side of 0300 without converting again.
| Military time | 24-hour clock | Standard time | Said aloud |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0200 | 02:00 | 2:00 AM | zero two hundred |
| 0215 | 02:15 | 2:15 AM | zero two fifteen |
| 0230 | 02:30 | 2:30 AM | zero two thirty |
| 0245 | 02:45 | 2:45 AM | zero two forty-five |
| 0300 | 03:00 | 3:00 AM | zero three hundred |
| 0315 | 03:15 | 3:15 AM | zero three fifteen |
| 0330 | 03:30 | 3:30 AM | zero three thirty |
| 0345 | 03:45 | 3:45 AM | zero three forty-five |
| 0400 | 04:00 | 4:00 AM | zero four hundred |
| 0415 | 04:15 | 4:15 AM | zero four fifteen |
| 0430 | 04:30 | 4:30 AM | zero four thirty |
| 0445 | 04:45 | 4:45 AM | zero four forty-five |
Is 0300 morning, afternoon, evening or night?
0300 is in the small hours of the night. It is 3 hours after midnight and 9 hours before noon, the part of the day when a night shift is at its quietest. On the 12-hour clock it is 3:00 AM, and the AM is the clue: the date has already changed, even though most people are still asleep.
Questions people ask
What time is 0300 in military time?
0300 is 3:00 AM, three o'clock in the morning. Any military time before 1200 keeps its hour, so you only take off the leading zero and add AM.
How do you say 0300 in military time?
"Zero three hundred". On the hour the two zero minutes are read as "hundred", and the leading zero of the hour is spoken as "zero". In conversation people often add "hours" at the end.
Is 0300 AM or PM?
AM. Every military time from 0000 to 1159 is AM, and 0300 is 9 hours before noon. Military time never uses the letters, which is the point of it: 0300 can only mean one moment in the day.
How many hours is it from 0300 to midnight?
21 hours exactly, counting to 2400 at the end of the day. From 0300 to 1700 is 14 hours. The converter works out the time between any two military times, including across midnight.