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NIST Internet Time Service

Metadata Updated: September 30, 2025

Distributes NIST estimate of official U.S. time over the Internet in real time, using Network Time Protocol (NTP) and other time data formats to automatically synchronize clocks in computers and network devices to official U.S. time as realized by NIST several billions of times per day. This official U.S. time is the NIST estimate of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), and called UTC(NIST). The accuracy of UTC(NIST) as distributed through the Internet Time Service (ITS) is on the order of 0.001 seconds (one millisecond), although accuracy can vary depending on network conditions and other parameters. Note that unlike most traditional datasets, time is intrinsically a transient, ever-changing quantity. As soon as UTC(NIST) is transmitted to a client, that particular value of UTC(NIST) no longer reflects the current time, which is constantly changing. There is thus no static storage of any time data, apart from internal diagnostic information not released to the public which ensures that UTC(NIST) as disseminated through the Internet Time Service (ITS) is commensurate with the official UTC(NIST) realization within the uncertainties of the system. The vast majority of UTC(NIST) information distributed through ITS is provided freely, anonymously and automatically to the public. Any IP address can request UTC(NIST) through the ITS and the information is automatically and anonymously provided at no cost to the user. Full documentation of the ITS including all the source code is available to the public through the web site http://www.nist.gov/pml/div688/.NIST provides an authenticated version of ITS to a limited number of users (approximately 500 users near the end of calendar year 2015) who for various reasons want to ensure they are receiving UTC(NIST) without spoofing or interference with the information. This service uses public key encryption for the set of registered users to provide authenticated UTC(NIST).

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: See this page for license information.

Downloads & Resources

References

https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/services/internet-time-service-its

Dates

Metadata Created Date November 12, 2020
Metadata Updated Date September 30, 2025
Data Update Frequency R/PT1S

Metadata Source

Harvested from Commerce Non Spatial Data.json Harvest Source

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date November 12, 2020
Metadata Updated Date September 30, 2025
Publisher National Institute of Standards and Technology
Maintainer
Identifier 25C39B1D2C1549AFE0531A5706812CBC1445
Language en
Data Last Modified 2015-11-30 00:00:00
Category Physics:Time and frequency
Public Access Level public
Data Update Frequency R/PT1S
Bureau Code 006:55
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Data Dictionary https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/services/internet-time-service-its
Data Dictionary Type text/plain
Harvest Object Id 10ca82d2-3610-44f5-88e6-642c9d554ba9
Harvest Source Id bce99b55-29c1-47be-b214-b8e71e9180b1
Harvest Source Title Commerce Non Spatial Data.json Harvest Source
Homepage URL https://data.nist.gov/od/id/25C39B1D2C1549AFE0531A5706812CBC1445
License https://www.nist.gov/open/license
Old Spatial Applicable across the world.
Program Code 006:045
Related Documents https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/services/internet-time-service-its
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 9d3115361ba4a933aa68e45f6df6fbeaeefd855ca64851d4dd8a07c7a6786343
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial

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