Unix Timestamp Converter
Convert Unix timestamps to dates and back. Live current timestamp included.
Timestamp → Date
Date → Timestamp
What is a Unix timestamp?
Seconds since epoch
A Unix timestamp counts seconds elapsed since January 1, 1970 00:00:00 UTC. It's the universal standard for representing time in programming across all languages and platforms.
Seconds vs milliseconds
JavaScript uses milliseconds (13-digit timestamps). Unix and most server languages use seconds (10-digit). This tool handles both automatically.
Always UTC
Unix timestamps are always in UTC. This tool shows both local and UTC output so you can see both representations.
Unix Timestamps — The Universal Language of Time in Programming
Every programming language, database, and operating system understands Unix timestamps. They are the single most universal way to represent a moment in time in software — a simple integer that counts seconds since January 1, 1970 at midnight UTC. No timezone ambiguity, no locale formatting, no parsing complexity. Just a number.
Why January 1, 1970?
The Unix operating system was developed at Bell Labs in the late 1960s. When the developers needed a reference point for time, they chose January 1, 1970 as a round number close to the system's creation date. This moment — called the Unix epoch — became the universal starting point. Every Unix timestamp counts seconds forward (or backward, for negative values) from this moment.
Seconds vs milliseconds — the source of many bugs
Unix traditionally uses seconds. JavaScript uses milliseconds. This single difference causes real bugs — passing a JavaScript timestamp (13 digits) to a Unix-expecting function produces a date in the year 55,000+. Always check: 10-digit timestamp = seconds, 13-digit = milliseconds. To convert: divide ms by 1000, multiply seconds by 1000.
The Year 2038 problem
On 32-bit systems, timestamps are stored as signed 32-bit integers with a maximum of 2,147,483,647 — which corresponds to January 19, 2038. After this date, 32-bit systems overflow. Modern 64-bit systems can represent timestamps hundreds of billions of years into the future. Most systems have migrated, but embedded devices and legacy industrial software remain at risk.
Frequently asked questions
Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000) — Python: import time; int(time.time()) — PHP: time() — Go: time.Now().Unix() — SQL: UNIX_TIMESTAMP() (MySQL) or EXTRACT(EPOCH FROM NOW()) (PostgreSQL).