Unix Timestamp Converter

Converters & calculators·Free · in browser

Unix Timestamp Converter

Convert Unix timestamps to human-readable dates and back, handling both seconds and milliseconds, with UTC, ISO 8601 and local output.

Unix Timestamp Converter
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An epoch converter translates between Unix timestamps and human-readable dates in both directions. Unix time counts seconds since 1 January 1970 UTC, ignoring leap seconds, which is why it is the standard way to store an instant in a database or an API.

Runs entirely in your browser · no signup · nothing is uploaded · updated 2026-08-29

Current Unix time

1789983856

Unix time counts seconds since 1970-01-01 UTC. JavaScript uses milliseconds, which is the single most common source of dates landing in the year 56,000.

How to use it

  1. 1.Paste a timestamp in seconds or milliseconds - the length decides which.
  2. 2.Read it in UTC, ISO 8601 and your local timezone.
  3. 3.Or enter a date to get the timestamp back.

Unix timestamp reference

Ten digits is seconds and thirteen is milliseconds. Reading one as the other is the single most common timestamp bug.

ValueMeaning
01 January 1970, 00:00:00 UTC - the epoch
10000000009 September 2001 - the first ten-digit timestamp
170000000014 November 2023
214748364719 January 2038 - signed 32-bit overflow
86400Seconds in a day
604800Seconds in a week
2592000Seconds in 30 days
31536000Seconds in a 365-day year
Math.floor(Date.now()/1000)Current timestamp in JavaScript
date +%sCurrent timestamp in a shell
extract(epoch from now())Current timestamp in Postgres

Frequently asked questions

Seconds or milliseconds?

Unix time is defined in seconds. JavaScript's Date.now returns milliseconds. A 10-digit number is seconds, a 13-digit number is milliseconds - mixing them is the single most common date bug there is.

What is the year 2038 problem?

A signed 32-bit timestamp overflows on 19 January 2038. Anything storing time in a 32-bit integer breaks then. Use 64-bit integers or a native timestamp type.

Does Unix time account for leap seconds?

No. It assumes every day is exactly 86,400 seconds, so it drifts from actual astronomical time. That is deliberate - it keeps the arithmetic simple.

Why does my date show a day off?

Almost always a timezone issue. A date with no time component is midnight UTC, which is the previous day in any negative offset. Store and compare in UTC.

Is my timestamp in seconds or milliseconds?

Count the digits. Ten digits is seconds and lands in the present; thirteen is milliseconds. A ten-digit value read as milliseconds gives a date in 1970, which is the classic symptom.

What is the current Unix timestamp?

It increments every second. Get it with Math.floor(Date.now()/1000) in JavaScript, time.time() in Python, or date +%s in a shell.

Why does my timestamp show the wrong day?

Timezone. A Unix timestamp is always UTC; the date you see depends on the zone used to format it. A midnight UTC timestamp is the previous evening in the Americas.

Should I store dates as timestamps or as dates?

Store an instant as timestamptz in Postgres, which is a timestamp with the zone handled correctly. Store a calendar date with no time - a birthday, an invoice date - as a plain date, never as an epoch.

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