Time zone · Americas
BST
Brasilia Standard Time
Brasilia Standard Time (BST) covers most of Brazil’s population, from the capital Brasília to the Atlantic coast and the lower Amazon, giving São Paulo, Recife, and surrounding cities a year-round offset of UTC-03:00 without daylight saving complications. Whether you're syncing a video call or shipping a package, a single clock setting keeps BST simple and predictable.
Wednesday, October 14, 2026
Current offset
UTC-03:00
Standard · -03
Daylight saving
Not observed
Year-round standard time
IANA zones
8
None observe daylight saving
DST offset
—
No summer variant
About BST
A fixed, year-round offset.
Brasilia Standard Time (BST) covers most of Brazil’s population, from the capital Brasília to the Atlantic coast and the lower Amazon, giving São Paulo, Recife, and surrounding cities a year-round offset of UTC-03:00 without daylight saving complications. Whether you're syncing a video call or shipping a package, a single clock setting keeps BST simple and predictable.
IANA zones · the technical identifiers
The 8 zones that resolve to BST.
For software, always store the IANA identifier — never the abbreviation alone. The database keeps these zones distinct because their rules can, and historically did, diverge.
Cities across BST
Local time, city by city.
39 cities
Where BST is used
One country.
Same offset · UTC-03:00
Other zones at UTC-03:00 right now.
These named zones share BST's offset today. When daylight saving rules differ, they drift apart for part of the year.
Convert
BST to the world's clocks.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about BST, daylight saving, and how to handle it in software. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].
- Why does Brasilia Standard Time stay fixed all year?
- Brazil suspended nationwide daylight saving in 2019, making BST a static offset—no spring-forward or fall-back surprises.
- Does BST cover the whole of Brazil?
- No. BST represents several major coastal and central-western capitals, while the far west follows different offsets built around UTC-05:00 or UTC-04:00.
- Why was Santarem moved into UTC-03:00?
- In June 2008, western Pará, including Santarém, moved from UTC-04:00 to UTC-03:00 so that the whole state of Pará shares one time with its capital, Belém.
- Is running a meeting across Brazil's time zones tricky?
- Not with BST in play. Most of Brazil's populous hubs share the same hour and never drift apart, keeping national teamwork frictionless.
- What is the default abbreviation for BST?
- Brasília Time is usually abbreviated BRT, and time zone databases show it as “-03”. BST more commonly means British Summer Time.
- Is BST the same as GMT-3?
- Yes. While “GMT-3” sounds vintage, the modern phrase is “UTC-03:00”; both describe the same hour difference.
Source: IANA tzdb2026d · Reviewed
Free · Developer API
This time zone, as JSON.
Its defining offset, DST status and member counts, from one endpoint.
Also in the API: time zones by coordinates, conversions that flag daylight saving gaps, and abbreviations decoded.
Moving off WorldTimeAPI? Our drop-in replacement needs no key.