How to use the time to decimal calculator
- 1Type the time exactly as your tracker shows it, for example 31:47.
- 2Read the decimal hours and the working-out underneath.
- 3Enter your target hours to see if you are ahead or behind. The Business Days Calculator can fill this in for you.
- 4Add an hourly rate to see what your tracked time is worth.
- 5Use the lower sections to add up several times, or to turn decimal hours back into hours and minutes.
How the conversion works
Time trackers show hours and minutes, but payroll and invoices need decimal hours. Divide the minutes by 60 and add them to the hours:
decimal hours = hours + minutes ÷ 60
For 31:47 that is 31 + 47 ÷ 60 = 31 + 0.7833 = 31.78 hours. Seconds are handled too: 7:05:30 is 7 + 5.5 ÷ 60 = 7.09 hours.
A common mistake is to read 31:47 as 31.47 hours. That undercounts by nearly 20 minutes, because 47 minutes is 0.78 of an hour, not 0.47.
Quick reference
- 15 minutes = 0.25 hours
- 30 minutes = 0.5 hours
- 45 minutes = 0.75 hours
- 6 minutes = 0.1 hours
- 1 minute = 0.0167 hours
Rounding
Choose two decimal places for most timesheets, four for precise billing, or round to the nearest tenth or quarter hour if your employer or client bills in those increments. Rounding is applied only to the displayed result.
Checking against your target
Enter the hours you are expected to work, such as business days × 8, and the calculator shows how far ahead or behind you are in both hours and minutes and decimal hours, plus the pay difference if you add a rate. The Business Days Calculator links straight here with the expected hours filled in.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert 31:47 to decimal hours?
Divide the minutes by 60 and add the hours: 47 ÷ 60 = 0.78, so 31:47 is 31.78 hours.
Is 7:30 the same as 7.3 hours?
No. 7:30 is seven and a half hours, which is 7.5 in decimal. 7.3 hours is 7 hours and 18 minutes.
How do I convert decimal hours back to hours and minutes?
Multiply the decimal part by 60. For 7.75 hours, 0.75 × 60 = 45, so it is 7:45. The lower section of this tool does it for you.
Can I add up several days of tracked time?
Yes. Paste one time per line in the Add up several times box, then press Use as tracker time to convert the total.
What formats can I type?
Hours and minutes like 31:47, with seconds like 7:05:30, or written out like 6h 45m. A plain number such as 7.5 is treated as decimal hours.
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