The behavior of classical time‐domain electromagnetic far fields is investigated with emphasis placed on those characteristics that are unique to the time domain. Necessary conditions are derived for the time‐domain far fields to decay slower than 1/rand for the energy in a far‐field pulse to decay slower than 1/r2. Time‐domain near fields are expressed in terms of integrals over the time‐domain far‐field pattern. Analyticity with respect to angular variation of the time‐domain far‐field pattern is determined, and restrictions are derived on the time dependence of the electromagnetic far fields.