Is "ET" the same as "EST"?
Quick Answer: No, ET is not exactly the same as EST. ET stands for Eastern Time and includes both Eastern Standard Time (EST) and Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), depending on the time of year. EST refers specifically to the standard time during fall and winter months.
ET is a general term that covers the time zone used by the eastern part of the US and Canada. It changes between EST (UTC-5) in the colder months and EDT (UTC-4) when daylight saving time is active in spring and summer.
People use ET when they want to refer to the time zone without specifying whether daylight saving is in effect. But EST is fixed, only applying to the standard time period.