AbstractA conformal finite‐difference time‐domain algorithm for the solution of electrodynamic problems in general perfectly conducting 3D geometries is presented. Unlike previous conformal approaches it has the second‐order convergence without the need to reduce the maximal stable time step of conventional staircase approach. A novel proof for the local error rate for general geometries is given, and the method is verified and compared to other approaches by means of several numerical 2D examples. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.