Unix Timestamp Converter
Convert Unix timestamps to human-readable dates and vice versa. Supports seconds and milliseconds with live current time display.
Enter a Unix timestamp above to convert it to a readable date.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Unix timestamp?
A Unix timestamp (also called epoch time or POSIX time) is the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970 00:00:00 UTC, not counting leap seconds. It is widely used in programming and databases as a simple, timezone-independent way to represent a point in time.
What is the difference between Unix timestamp in seconds and milliseconds?
The standard Unix timestamp counts seconds since the epoch (January 1, 1970). A millisecond timestamp is 1000 times larger and counts milliseconds since the epoch. JavaScript's Date.now() returns milliseconds, while many server-side languages and Unix commands use seconds. A seconds timestamp is typically 10 digits, while milliseconds is 13 digits.
What is the Unix epoch?
The Unix epoch is January 1, 1970 at 00:00:00 UTC. This date was chosen as the starting point for Unix time when the Unix operating system was being developed at Bell Labs. All Unix timestamps are measured relative to this moment.
Will Unix timestamps run out?
The original 32-bit signed integer representation of Unix timestamps will overflow on January 19, 2038 at 03:14:07 UTC, known as the Year 2038 problem. Modern systems use 64-bit integers, which will not overflow for approximately 292 billion years.
How do timezones affect Unix timestamps?
Unix timestamps are timezone-independent because they always represent UTC time. The same moment in time has the same Unix timestamp regardless of your local timezone. When converting a timestamp to a human-readable date, the timezone is applied only for display purposes.