How to convert 20 minutes to decimal hours
The formula is:
Minutes ÷ 60 = decimal hours
For 20 minutes:
20 ÷ 60 = 0.3333…
Therefore: 20 minutes = 0.3333… decimal hours
If you are working to two decimal places, this is usually written as 0.33 hours.
20 minutes is one-third of an hour
A simple way to understand the conversion is to think of 20 minutes as a fraction of an hour.
An hour contains 60 minutes.
20 minutes is one-third of 60 minutes.
So: 20 minutes = ⅓ hour
One-third written as a decimal is 0.3333…
Therefore: 20 minutes = 0.3333… hours
20 minutes on a timesheet
If you are converting a full working time, keep the whole hours and add the decimal value of the minutes.
For example: 7 hours 20 minutes
20 minutes = 0.3333… hours
So the exact decimal value is: 7.3333… hours
When shown to two decimal places, this may appear as 7.33 hours.
Different payroll, timesheet and workforce systems can use different rounding rules, so check the requirements of the system you are using if the exact recorded value matters.
Why 20 minutes is not 0.20 hours
A common mistake is to assume that 20 minutes can simply be written as 0.20 hours.
It cannot.
20 minutes ≠ 0.20 hours
To see why, convert 0.20 hours back into minutes:
0.20 × 60 = 12
So: 0.20 hours = 12 minutes
The correct conversion for 20 minutes is 0.3333… hours, or approximately 0.33 hours.
Why 20 minutes is usually shown as 0.33
The exact decimal value of 20 minutes is 0.333333…
The 3 continues indefinitely.
When rounded to two decimal places:
0.3333… → 0.33
This means 0.33 is a rounded representation rather than the exact value.
If you convert 0.33 back into minutes:
0.33 × 60 = 19.8 minutes
So 0.33 hours is slightly less than an exact 20 minutes.
For everyday timesheet and payroll displays, this difference may simply be handled by the system’s rounding rules.
Check the conversion
You can check the exact conversion by multiplying one-third of an hour by 60:
⅓ × 60 = 20
So: ⅓ hour = 20 minutes
Or using the repeating decimal:
0.3333… × 60 = 20
This confirms that: 20 minutes = 0.3333… hours
Decimal hours conversion chart
Use this quick-reference chart to convert common minute values into decimal hours.
| Minutes | Decimal hours |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.02 |
| 5 | 0.08 |
| 6 | 0.10 |
| 10 | 0.17 |
| 12 | 0.20 |
| 15 | 0.25 |
| 18 | 0.30 |
| 20 | 0.33 |
| 24 | 0.40 |
| 25 | 0.42 |
| 30 | 0.50 |
| 35 | 0.58 |
| 36 | 0.60 |
| 40 | 0.67 |
| 42 | 0.70 |
| 45 | 0.75 |
| 48 | 0.80 |
| 50 | 0.83 |
| 54 | 0.90 |
| 55 | 0.92 |
| 60 | 1.00 |
Some values in this table are rounded to two decimal places.
For a full reference, see our Minutes to Hundredths of an Hour Chart.
Convert your own time
Need to convert a different number of minutes, or a full time such as 7 hours 42 minutes?
Use the Hundred Hour Time Converter to:
- convert hours and minutes into decimal hours
- convert decimal hours back into normal hours and minutes
- check timesheet or payroll values quickly