Countdown Timer
Set a target time and watch the remaining days, hours, minutes, and seconds tick down in real time. Quick presets, fullscreen projection, an end-of-timer sound alert, shareable links, and automatic restore after refresh. Runs entirely on your device, no sign-up needed.
No target time set yet
Pick a date and time above, or tap a quick preset to start instantly
Target time：
The target time has been reached
Target time：
Double-click the countdown area to quickly enter or exit fullscreen
How to use
- Enter an event name (optional), pick the target date and time, and choose the timezone that time belongs to (defaults to your device timezone, switchable to any city timezone)
- Or tap a quick preset such as "In 10 minutes" or "Tomorrow midnight", or jump to a regional festival like Lunar New Year, Easter, or Christmas; day-based presets use the selected timezone
- Click "Start countdown" to see the remaining days, hours, minutes, and seconds in real time; the browser tab title counts down too, even when the tab is in the background
- Use "Fullscreen" for projection, "Copy share link" to send the same target moment and timezone to friends; settings are saved locally and restored after refresh
Features
Popular use cases
Project a fullscreen countdown for New Year or Lunar New Year at venues or on live streams.
Set the exact start time of an exam and keep it on your desktop or homepage to pace your revision.
Send the share link to attendees so everyone watches the same target moment and starts on time.
Count down to birthdays, anniversaries, or the departure date of a long-awaited trip.
What is a countdown timer?
A countdown timer counts backward from the current moment toward a future target moment, expressing how much time remains in days, hours, minutes, and seconds. Unlike a stopwatch, which counts upward from zero, a countdown answers "how long until?" It is widely used for New Year, exams, product launches, flash sales, meetings, and birthdays — any event with a fixed deadline.
Is the countdown accurate?
This tool computes the difference between the target moment's absolute timestamp and your device's system clock, refreshing the display every second. As long as your device time is correct (most devices sync automatically over the network), the countdown is accurate. Even if you refresh the page, close the browser, or shut down the computer, reopening it resumes the countdown against real time — no seconds are gained or lost while the page is closed. An incorrect device clock would, of course, skew the result.
What is the difference between a countdown and a stopwatch?
A stopwatch counts upward from zero and answers "how long has passed", measuring an activity whose endpoint is unknown, such as a race time or the length of a meeting. A countdown counts backward toward a fixed target and answers "how much time is left", with the numbers shrinking until an alert fires at zero. Both rely on your system clock but run in opposite directions — one tracks elapsed time from the start, the other approaches a deadline. This tool can even continue counting forward after zero, handing off automatically from countdown to stopwatch.
Can the timer keep running after it reaches zero?
Yes. With "Keep counting after time is up" enabled by default, the timer does not freeze at zero: it automatically switches to counting upward, the numbers start growing again, and an "Overtime" badge shows how much time has passed since the deadline — useful when a meeting runs long, an exam starts late, or a live stream is delayed. The digits keep your chosen font color while the red badge marks the overtime state. You can disable this anytime in Appearance or control it through the share-link parameter.
How is "days remaining" calculated?
The day count is derived from the total remaining time, rounded down: the target moment minus now gives the seconds left, and every full 24 hours counts as one day, with the remainder shown as hours, minutes, and seconds. That is why "tomorrow at midnight" usually shows 0 days plus some hours — it means less than a full day away, not "one calendar day later". Likewise, "1 day 3 hours" means exactly 27 hours, regardless of how many calendar dates fall in between. This keeps the remaining time identical for anyone who opens the same share link, in any timezone.
Does daylight saving time affect the countdown?
No. The countdown runs on the absolute timestamp of the target moment, independent of how any local clock is adjusted. When DST starts or ends, the local wall clock jumps by an hour, but the physical instant you targeted does not change, and the remaining time keeps ticking down smoothly with no sudden one-hour jump. The wall-clock label of the target may look an hour off after the switch (because the local clock changed), yet the moment it reaches zero stays the same instant for everyone, everywhere.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. The countdown is calculated as "absolute target moment minus current system time", not by accumulating seconds, so refreshing the page, closing the browser, or even shutting down the device and reopening later resumes against real time with no drift. This assumes your device clock is accurate; computers and phones normally sync it automatically.
The share link carries both the absolute target moment and your chosen timezone, so friends open it with the wall-clock time shown in that same timezone by default — set "January 1, 00:00 in America/New_York" and they see New York midnight too, with both countdowns reaching zero at the exact same physical moment. They can still switch the timezone on the page to see the equivalent local wall-clock time; the target moment itself never changes.
Yes. When the target is reached, the page shows "Time is up!" and plays two short beeps; you can disable this with the toggle. Due to browser autoplay rules, sound can only play automatically after you have interacted with the page (for example, clicked "Start countdown" or a preset).
No. All settings are stored only in your own browser (localStorage) and in the link parameters, and every calculation runs locally — nothing passes through a server. Clearing browser data removes the local save, but the share link still works.
Yes. Click "Fullscreen" to enter web fullscreen, where the numbers scale up to fill the screen; press ESC or the close button to exit. Combining it with the browser's own F11 fullscreen works even better for New Year events, meeting rooms, and live streams.
When the target time is reached, the page shows "Time is up!" and plays two short beeps. With "Keep counting after time is up" enabled by default, the numbers do not stop at zero but keep increasing, and an "Overtime" badge appears showing exactly how long has passed since the deadline. You can turn this off in the appearance settings if you prefer.
Yes. Click "Copy embed code", choose a rectangle (420×200), square (360×360), or banner (728×150) size, and paste the generated iframe snippet into your blog, stream announcement, or web page. The embedded version supports fullscreen, the end-of-timer sound, and custom colors, and never reads or writes the visitor's browser local storage.
No installation required. The countdown runs directly in your browser and works on Windows, macOS, phones, and tablets, with a layout that adapts to any screen. Your settings are stored locally in the current browser and restored automatically after closing the page or even shutting down the device.
Related tools
Working with time? These tools pair well with the countdown:
A fullscreen clock with retro flip animation, great for desks, live streams, and meeting rooms alongside the countdown.
Convert between Unix timestamps and date-times with automatic second/milli/micro/nanosecond precision detection and multi-timezone views.
Look up timezones worldwide and convert wall-clock times — handy for finding a shared moment across distributed teams.