Converter
Game Time to Real Time
A full Minecraft day is 24,000 ticks — exactly 20 real minutes at 20 TPS. Day starts at tick 0 = 6:00 AM in-game.
Daytime tick
0 to 23,999. Wraps automatically. What /time query daytime returns.
Real minutes elapsed
Wall-clock minutes since the in-game day started. Full cycle is 20 min.
In-game clock
7:00 AM
Real time
0:50 / 20:00
Morningtick 1,000
Full daylight. Safe to roam — most hostile mobs despawn or burn.
6 AMNoon6 PMNight12 AMSunrise
Example commands
Live-updated as you change the values above. Click to copy.
/time set — jump to this exact tick
/time add — advance the cycle by this many ticks
/time query — read current daytime tick
Quick reference
Notable ticks in the day-night cycle.
| Tick | In-game clock | Real time | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 6:00 AM | 0:00 | Day starts. Sun rising. Undead burn in sunlight. |
| 1,000 | 7:00 AM | 0:50 | /time set day — the canonical 'morning' tick. |
| 6,000 | 12:00 PM | 5:00 | /time set noon — sun directly overhead, brightest moment. |
| 12,000 | 6:00 PM | 10:00 | Sunset begins. Sky turns orange. |
| 12,542 | 6:32 PM | 10:27 | Earliest tick at which beds become usable. |
| 13,000 | 7:00 PM | 10:50 | /time set night — hostile mobs can now spawn freely. |
| 18,000 | 12:00 AM | 15:00 | /time set midnight — moon overhead, darkest sky. |
| 22,300 | 4:18 AM | 18:35 | Phantoms can spawn from here through early morning if 3+ days without sleep. |
| 23,000 | 5:00 AM | 19:10 | Sunrise begins. Sky on the east starts brightening. |
| 23,459 | 5:23 AM | 19:33 | Beds stop working — daytime threshold for sleep ends here. |
| 24,000 | 6:00 AM | 20:00 | Cycle wraps. Equivalent to tick 0 of the next day. |
How the cycle works
- 1,000 ticks = 1 in-game hour = 50 real seconds. The world runs 72× faster than wall time.
/time set dayjumps to tick 1000 (7:00 AM), not 0 — to avoid landing in the middle of sunrise.- Beds are usable from tick 12542 to ~23459, plus during any thunderstorm regardless of time.
- Hostile mob spawning windows depend on light level, not raw tick — but the typical "night" window is ticks 13000-23000.
/gamerule doDaylightCycle falsefreezes time at the current tick.
Related commands
/time— Set, add, or query the day-cycle tick. Supports named shortcuts: day, noon, night, midnight./gamerule— doDaylightCycle controls whether time passes. doInsomnia controls phantoms./weather— Thunderstorms let beds work regardless of time of day./effect— Night Vision (id 16) lifts the visual gloom of night without changing the actual cycle.
FAQ
- How long is one day in Minecraft in real life?
- 20 real minutes when the server is running at full 20 ticks per second. A full day-night cycle is 24,000 ticks. Daytime is roughly 10 minutes (ticks 0-12000), nighttime is the other 10 (12000-24000).
- How long is a Minecraft night in real time?
- About 8 minutes and 20 seconds of darkness suitable for mob spawning. Strict night is ticks 13000 to 23000 (10,000 ticks = 500 seconds), but sunset and pre-dawn add a couple more minutes on either side.
- What time is sunrise in Minecraft?
- Sunrise begins at tick 23000 and finishes around tick 0. Mobs in direct sunlight start burning a few hundred ticks before tick 0. The /time set day command jumps to tick 1000, just after sunrise is complete.
- When can you sleep in Minecraft?
- Beds become usable starting at tick 12542 (about 10:27 of real-time elapsed since dawn) — slightly before the strict night-time threshold of 13000. They stop working at sunrise around tick 23459. Beds also work during a thunderstorm regardless of time.
- Does /time use ticks or hours?
- Ticks, with a handful of named shortcuts. /time set day = tick 1000, /time set noon = 6000, /time set night = 13000, /time set midnight = 18000. /time add adds raw ticks; /time query daytime returns 0-23999.
- How do you stop time from passing?
- Use /gamerule doDaylightCycle false. The current time freezes at whatever tick it's on. Set it back to true to resume the cycle. Useful for builders who want consistent lighting.