# Countdown Timer

> Free countdown timer: pick any date and time to see a live ticking countdown in days, hours, minutes and seconds, with presets for New Year, Christmas and more.

Pick a date and time to start a live countdown that ticks every second in days, hours, minutes and seconds. Or jump straight to a preset: New Year, Valentine's Day, Halloween or Christmas.

*Interactive tool: enter your values at https://toollantern.win/countdown-timer/ and results update instantly in your browser.*

## What this tool does

The countdown timer shows the time remaining until a date and time you choose, broken into days, hours, minutes and seconds, updating every second while the page is open. Four presets (New Year, Valentine's Day, Halloween, Christmas) always point at the next upcoming occurrence, so they work at any time of year.

## How it ticks

The page stores your target as a timestamp and recomputes the difference with **setInterval** once per second. Because the remaining time is recalculated from the current time on every tick rather than decremented, the display stays accurate even if the browser pauses the tab for a while.

## Worked example

At noon on **2026-12-30**, a countdown to New Year (2027-01-01 00:00) shows **1 day, 12 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds** remaining. When the target passes, the display switches to a finished message.

## Time zones

The date and time you enter are interpreted in your device's local time zone. If you are counting down to an event in another zone, convert it first with our time zone converter, then enter the local equivalent here.

## Limitations

The countdown only ticks while the tab is open; it does not run in the background, send notifications or play a sound. For a countdown that must survive a closed browser, use your phone's clock app instead.

## Frequently asked questions
### How do I set a countdown to a specific date?

Pick the date and time with the date picker above, then press Start countdown. The display updates every second with the days, hours, minutes and seconds remaining.

### Do the presets work all year?

Yes. Each preset finds the next upcoming occurrence of the holiday: if this year's date has passed, it targets next year's. The label shows which date it picked.

### Does the countdown keep running if I close the tab?

No. It ticks only while the page is open. When you reopen the page and restart it, it recomputes from the current time, so it is always accurate.

### What happens when the countdown reaches zero?

The timer stops and shows a finished message. The display does not go negative.

### Which time zone does the countdown use?

Your device's local time zone. The picker has no zone selector, so for events in other zones, convert the time to your local time first.

---
Interactive version: https://toollantern.win/countdown-timer/