Timestamp Converter

What a Unix timestamp is

A Unix timestamp counts the seconds since the "epoch" — midnight UTC on 1 January 1970. Because it's a single number tied to UTC, it represents the exact same instant no matter where you are, which makes it the lingua franca for storing and exchanging time in code, logs, databases and APIs. Turning that number back into a readable date is where this tool comes in.

How to use it

1. Read the live clock. The top panel shows the current epoch in both milliseconds and seconds, ticking in real time. Hit Pause to freeze it and copy a stable value.
2. Timestamp → date. Paste any Unix timestamp and get your local time, UTC, the ISO 8601 string, the weekday and how long ago (or from now) it is. Leave the unit on Auto-detect and it figures out seconds vs. milliseconds from the length.
3. Date → timestamp. Pick a date and time, choose whether to read it as local time or UTC, and copy the resulting timestamp in seconds or milliseconds.

Seconds vs. milliseconds at a glance

• Seconds — the classic Unix format. A current value is about 10 digits (e.g. 1717632000). Used by most backend languages and the date command.
• Milliseconds — what JavaScript's Date.now() returns, about 13 digits. Common in web APIs and front-end code.
• Microseconds — high-resolution timestamps, about 16 digits, seen in some databases and tracing systems.

Frequently asked questions

What is a Unix timestamp?

A Unix timestamp (also called epoch time) is the number of seconds that have elapsed since 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970, not counting leap seconds. It's a simple, timezone-free way to represent an instant in time, which is why it's used throughout programming, databases and APIs.

Seconds, milliseconds or microseconds?

Unix systems and most APIs use seconds (a 10-digit number today). JavaScript's Date.now() and many web APIs use milliseconds (13 digits). Some high-resolution systems use microseconds (16 digits). This converter can auto-detect the unit from the number's length, or you can pick it explicitly.

Does the timestamp depend on my timezone?

No. A Unix timestamp is the same instant everywhere on Earth — it's always counted from UTC. Your timezone only matters when displaying that instant as a calendar date and clock time, which is why this tool shows both your local time and UTC.

What is the year 2038 problem?

Systems that store the timestamp in a signed 32-bit integer can only count seconds up to 03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038, after which the value overflows. Modern systems use 64-bit integers, which push the limit hundreds of billions of years into the future.

Is my data sent anywhere?

No. All conversions happen locally in your browser using JavaScript's Date object. Nothing you type is uploaded or stored on a server.