Convert Seconds to Time Format

January 23, 2002 - by Juan Pablo Gonzalez

PPD asks:

How can I format a cell that has data in seconds to show it as hours:minutes:seconds?

For example, if I have 16548 seconds it should show 4:35:48"

First, it's important to remember that Excel keeps dates informatios as day fractions. Therefore, to show the value it first needs to be converted like this.

Divide the value in seconds (16548) in (60 s / min * 60 min/hr * 24 hr/day) to get

=16548/(24*60*60)

=A1/(24*60*60)

This result can then be formatted as hh:mm:ss.