diff --git a/src/loader/date-range.ts b/src/loader/date-range.ts
index 84339f7de00..b7a0badb9bb 100644
--- a/src/loader/date-range.ts
+++ b/src/loader/date-range.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { AttrList } from '../utils/attr-list';
+import { parseDateTime } from '../utils/date-time';
 import { logger } from '../utils/logger';
 import type { MediaFragmentRef } from './fragment';
 
@@ -90,12 +91,14 @@ export class DateRange {
       this._endDate = dateRangeWithSameId._endDate;
       this._dateAtEnd = dateRangeWithSameId._dateAtEnd;
     } else {
-      this._startDate = new Date(dateRangeAttr[DateRangeAttribute.START_DATE]);
+      this._startDate = new Date(
+        parseDateTime(dateRangeAttr[DateRangeAttribute.START_DATE]),
+      );
     }
     if (DateRangeAttribute.END_DATE in dateRangeAttr) {
       const endDate =
         dateRangeWithSameId?.endDate ||
-        new Date(dateRangeAttr[DateRangeAttribute.END_DATE]);
+        new Date(parseDateTime(dateRangeAttr[DateRangeAttribute.END_DATE]));
       if (Number.isFinite(endDate.getTime())) {
         this._endDate = endDate;
       }
diff --git a/src/loader/fragment.ts b/src/loader/fragment.ts
index beddae0f4ae..d0bf111a3a2 100644
--- a/src/loader/fragment.ts
+++ b/src/loader/fragment.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { buildAbsoluteURL } from 'url-toolkit';
 import { LoadStats } from './load-stats';
 import { PlaylistLevelType } from '../types/loader';
+import { parseDateTime } from '../utils/date-time';
 import type { LevelKey } from './level-key';
 import type {
   FragmentLoaderContext,
@@ -337,7 +338,7 @@ export class Fragment extends BaseSegment {
 
   get programDateTime(): number | null {
     if (this._programDateTime === null && this.rawProgramDateTime) {
-      this.programDateTime = Date.parse(this.rawProgramDateTime);
+      this.programDateTime = parseDateTime(this.rawProgramDateTime);
     }
     return this._programDateTime;
   }
diff --git a/src/utils/date-time.ts b/src/utils/date-time.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e9f52029ace
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils/date-time.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+import { logger } from './logger';
+
+const enum CharCode {
+  Plus = 43,
+  Dash = 45,
+  Colon = 58,
+  T = 84,
+  Z = 90,
+  LowerT = 116,
+  LowerZ = 122,
+}
+
+// `YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM` judged by its separators; `Date.parse` validates the
+// digits. Anything shorter or shaped differently (date-only values, RFC 2822
+// strings) is passed through untouched.
+function isIsoDateTime(value: string): boolean {
+  const t = value.charCodeAt(10);
+  return (
+    value.length >= 16 &&
+    (t === CharCode.T || t === CharCode.LowerT) &&
+    value.charCodeAt(4) === CharCode.Dash &&
+    value.charCodeAt(7) === CharCode.Dash &&
+    value.charCodeAt(13) === CharCode.Colon
+  );
+}
+
+function isSign(code: number): boolean {
+  return code === CharCode.Plus || code === CharCode.Dash;
+}
+
+// A trailing `Z`, or a sign placed for `±HH:MM`, `±HHMM`, or `±HH`. With at
+// least 16 characters the earliest position checked is index 10, past the
+// date separators.
+function hasTimeZone(value: string): boolean {
+  const last = value.charCodeAt(value.length - 1);
+  return (
+    last === CharCode.Z ||
+    last === CharCode.LowerZ ||
+    isSign(value.charCodeAt(value.length - 6)) ||
+    isSign(value.charCodeAt(value.length - 5)) ||
+    isSign(value.charCodeAt(value.length - 3))
+  );
+}
+
+let warnedZoneless = false;
+
+/**
+ * Parse an HLS playlist date/time value (`EXT-X-PROGRAM-DATE-TIME`, and the
+ * `START-DATE`/`END-DATE` attributes of `EXT-X-DATERANGE`) into a timestamp
+ * in milliseconds since the epoch. Returns NaN for values that cannot be
+ * parsed. Tolerates non-string values at runtime, matching `Date.parse`
+ * coercion.
+ *
+ * ISO 8601 date-times without a time zone represent local time, and
+ * `Date.parse` follows that. HLS supersedes it: clients SHOULD treat a
+ * date-time without a time zone as UTC (rfc8216bis-17 Section 4.4.4.6),
+ * matching Apple's clients. Playlists SHOULD indicate a time zone, so the
+ * first zone-less value parsed logs a warning.
+ */
+export function parseDateTime(value: string): number {
+  if (
+    typeof value === 'string' &&
+    isIsoDateTime(value) &&
+    !hasTimeZone(value)
+  ) {
+    if (!warnedZoneless) {
+      warnedZoneless = true;
+      logger.warn(
+        `Date/time "${value}" has no time zone. Parsing as UTC (playlists SHOULD indicate a time zone).`,
+      );
+    }
+    return Date.parse(value + 'Z');
+  }
+  return Date.parse(value);
+}
diff --git a/tests/index.js b/tests/index.js
index f1146e09915..02a84e7e520 100644
--- a/tests/index.js
+++ b/tests/index.js
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ import './unit/utils/binary-search';
 import './unit/utils/buffer-helper';
 import './unit/utils/cea-608-parser';
 import './unit/utils/codecs';
+import './unit/utils/date-time';
 import './unit/utils/error-helper';
 import './unit/utils/fetch-loader';
 import './unit/utils/discontinuities';
diff --git a/tests/unit/loader/date-range.ts b/tests/unit/loader/date-range.ts
index e2e20892771..9a3930622a0 100644
--- a/tests/unit/loader/date-range.ts
+++ b/tests/unit/loader/date-range.ts
@@ -110,6 +110,20 @@ describe('DateRange class', function () {
     expect(dateRangeEndDate.duration).to.equal(60.001);
   });
 
+  it('parses zone-less START-DATE and END-DATE as UTC', function () {
+    const zonelessDates = new AttrList(
+      'ID="ad5",START-DATE="2020-01-02T21:55:44.000",END-DATE="2020-01-02T21:56:44.001"',
+    );
+    const dateRange = new DateRange(zonelessDates);
+    expect(dateRange.isValid).to.be.true;
+    expect(dateRange.startDate.toISOString()).to.equal(
+      '2020-01-02T21:55:44.000Z',
+    );
+    expect((dateRange.endDate as Date).toISOString()).to.equal(
+      '2020-01-02T21:56:44.001Z',
+    );
+  });
+
   it('merges tags with matching ID attributes', function () {
     const scteOut = new DateRange(sctePlanned);
     const scteIn = new DateRange(scteDurationUpdate, scteOut);
diff --git a/tests/unit/loader/m3u8-parser.ts b/tests/unit/loader/m3u8-parser.ts
index dc73797111f..d5f7b24a409 100644
--- a/tests/unit/loader/m3u8-parser.ts
+++ b/tests/unit/loader/m3u8-parser.ts
@@ -1349,6 +1349,28 @@ Rollover38803/20160525T064049-01-69844069.ts
     expect(result.fragments[2].programDateTime).to.equal(1464366904000);
   });
 
+  it('parses #EXT-X-PROGRAM-DATE-TIME without a time zone as UTC', function () {
+    const level = `#EXTM3U
+#EXT-X-VERSION:2
+#EXT-X-TARGETDURATION:10
+#EXT-X-MEDIA-SEQUENCE:69844067
+#EXTINF:10, no desc
+#EXT-X-PROGRAM-DATE-TIME:2016-05-27T16:34:44.000
+Rollover38803/20160525T064049-01-69844067.ts
+    `;
+    const result = M3U8Parser.parseLevelPlaylist(
+      level,
+      'http://video.example.com/disc.m3u8',
+      0,
+      PlaylistLevelType.MAIN,
+      0,
+      null,
+    );
+    expect(result.playlistParsingError).to.be.null;
+    expect(result.hasProgramDateTime).to.be.true;
+    expect(result.fragments[0].programDateTime).to.equal(1464366884000);
+  });
+
   it('parses delta playlists with one #EXT-X-PROGRAM-DATE-TIME after segments', function () {
     const level = `#EXTM3U
 #EXT-X-TARGETDURATION:6
diff --git a/tests/unit/utils/date-time.ts b/tests/unit/utils/date-time.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..db0fd5d2754
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/utils/date-time.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+import { expect } from 'chai';
+import { parseDateTime } from '../../../src/utils/date-time';
+
+describe('parseDateTime', function () {
+  it('parses date-times with a time zone as-is', function () {
+    expect(parseDateTime('2016-05-27T16:34:44Z')).to.equal(1464366884000);
+    expect(parseDateTime('2016-05-27T16:34:44.000Z')).to.equal(1464366884000);
+    expect(parseDateTime('2016-05-27T16:34:44z')).to.equal(1464366884000);
+    expect(parseDateTime('2016-05-27T19:34:44+03:00')).to.equal(1464366884000);
+    expect(parseDateTime('2016-05-27T13:34:44-03:00')).to.equal(1464366884000);
+    expect(parseDateTime('2016-05-27T19:34:44+0300')).to.equal(1464366884000);
+  });
+
+  it('parses zone-less date-times as UTC', function () {
+    expect(parseDateTime('2016-05-27T16:34:44')).to.equal(1464366884000);
+    expect(parseDateTime('2016-05-27T16:34:44.000')).to.equal(1464366884000);
+    expect(parseDateTime('2016-05-27T16:34:44.000123')).to.equal(1464366884000);
+    expect(parseDateTime('2016-05-27T16:34')).to.equal(1464366840000);
+  });
+
+  it('leaves date-only values alone (already UTC per ECMA-262)', function () {
+    expect(parseDateTime('2016-05-27')).to.equal(1464307200000);
+  });
+
+  it('leaves non-ISO date strings alone', function () {
+    const rfc2822 = 'Fri, 27 May 2016 16:34:44 GMT';
+    expect(parseDateTime(rfc2822)).to.equal(Date.parse(rfc2822));
+  });
+
+  it('returns NaN for invalid or missing input', function () {
+    expect(parseDateTime('not a date')).to.be.NaN;
+    expect(parseDateTime('2016-05-27T16:34:44 not a date')).to.be.NaN;
+    expect(parseDateTime(undefined as unknown as string)).to.be.NaN;
+  });
+});