Timestamp converter
Convert between Unix timestamps and readable dates
Unix Timestamp expects seconds since 1970-01-01 UTC; Date/Time accepts ISO 8601 format.
ISO 8601 (ms optional): accepts pasted Unix timestamps
About this tool
A Unix timestamp is the number of seconds (or milliseconds) that have elapsed since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC — a moment known as the Unix epoch. Unix timestamps are timezone-agnostic and are the standard representation of time in most programming languages, databases, and APIs. This tool converts between Unix timestamps and human-readable date/time strings, and shows the equivalent time in multiple timezones, making it easy to interpret timestamps from logs, APIs, or database records.
Common uses
- › Converting timestamps from API responses to readable dates
- › Interpreting Unix timestamps in server logs
- › Finding the timestamp for a specific date and time
- › Converting between timezones when debugging time-sensitive bugs
- › Checking whether a timestamp represents seconds or milliseconds
Example
17000000002023-11-14T22:13:20.000ZTechnical notes
- › Unix timestamps are timezone-agnostic by definition — they represent an exact instant, and any timezone offset is only applied when displaying the equivalent readable date.
- › A common source of bugs is mixing up seconds and milliseconds: JavaScript's Date object expects milliseconds, while Unix timestamps are traditionally in seconds — multiply or divide by 1000 to convert between them.
- › The Unix epoch is January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC; negative timestamps represent dates before that moment.
FAQ
Is a Unix timestamp in seconds or milliseconds?
Traditionally seconds, but many JavaScript APIs use milliseconds. A 10-digit timestamp is almost always seconds; a 13-digit timestamp is almost always milliseconds.
Does a Unix timestamp include timezone information?
No — a Unix timestamp represents a single instant in time (based on UTC), with no timezone attached. The timezone only matters when converting it to a human-readable date string.
What happens with dates before 1970?
They're represented as negative Unix timestamps — for example, January 1, 1960 is a large negative number of seconds before the epoch.