UTC vs GMT: What's the Difference?

They show the same clock reading, but they are not the same kind of thing.

In everyday use, UTC and GMT display the same hours and minutes. The difference is what they are.

GMT is a time zone based on the sun's position at the Greenwich meridian. UTC is a standard maintained by atomic clocks, kept close to the earth's rotation. UTC is the definition; GMT is a zone that happens to sit at the same offset.

Which should you write?

For anything technical — logs, APIs, flight times, international schedules — write UTC. For casual British context, GMT is understood, but remember it is wrong for half the year in the UK itself.

Keep reading