Timezone Abbreviation Lookup

Why abbreviations are riskier than they look

Three-letter timezone abbreviations aren't standardized by any single body, which is how the same letters end up meaning different things depending on who's writing them. IST alone means India Standard Time, Israel Standard Time, or Irish Standard Time depending on context. CST can mean Central Standard Time (US), China Standard Time, or Cuba Standard Time. If a calendar invite or a log file only says "3 PM CST" with no country attached, there's a genuine chance of a multi-hour misunderstanding — which is exactly why most modern systems have moved to IANA timezone identifiers (like America/Chicago) instead of abbreviations.

Need to convert between a specific pair of zones instead of just looking one up? Use the Timezone Comparison tool.