What is a Unix Timestamp?

A Unix timestamp (or Epoch time) is the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970 (00:00:00 UTC). It is a way to track time as a running total of seconds, making it easy for computers to calculate time differences.

January 1, 1970, was chosen as the arbitrary 'start of time' (Epoch) for the Unix operating system. It serves as a standard reference point for computer systems worldwide.

What is the Year 2038 problem?

On January 19, 2038, 32-bit systems will run out of numbers to store the timestamp (reaching 2,147,483,647). This will cause clocks to wrap around to 1901. Modern 64-bit systems have already solved this issue.

Seconds vs. Milliseconds?

Standard Unix timestamps are in seconds (10 digits). JavaScript and Java often use milliseconds (13 digits). Our tool detects and handles both automatically.

Is it time zone aware?

The timestamp itself is always in UTC. However, when converting to a human-readable date, our tool shows both the UTC time and your Local time for convenience.

Unix Timestamp Converter

Convert Unix timestamps to human-readable dates and vice versa. Essential for debugging and development.

Current Unix Timestamp

1764538427

Seconds since Jan 01 1970 (UTC)

Timestamp to Date

Date to Timestamp

The Language of Computer Time

To a human, "November 22, 2025, 3:30 PM" makes sense. To a computer, that string is a nightmare of parsing, time zones, and formats.

Computers prefer a single, simple number. That number is the Unix Timestamp. It represents the exact number of seconds that have ticked by since the "Unix Epoch"—midnight on January 1, 1970, UTC.

Why Developers Use Timestamps

🌍 Time Zone Agnostic

A timestamp is the same everywhere in the world. 1672531200 is the same moment in Tokyo as it is in New York. This eliminates timezone confusion in databases.

🧮 Easy Math

Want to know the difference between two dates? Just subtract Timestamp A from Timestamp B. The result is the difference in seconds. No complex calendar logic needed.

💾 Storage Efficiency

Storing a 10-digit integer takes up much less space (4 bytes) than storing a formatted date string (e.g., "2025-11-22 15:30:00").

🔄 Sorting

Sorting events chronologically is as simple as sorting numbers from smallest to largest.

Common Timestamp Formats

Unix Time (Seconds): 10 digits (e.g., 1700000000). Used by PHP, Python, Go, Unix systems.
JavaScript Time (Milliseconds): 13 digits (e.g., 1700000000000). Used by JavaScript, Java.
Microseconds: 16 digits. Used by some high-precision databases.

Tip: If your date looks like it's in the year 1970 or 50,000, you probably mixed up seconds and milliseconds! Multiply or divide by 1000 to fix it.

The Year 2038 Problem

Similar to the Y2K bug, the Year 2038 problem (Y2K38) affects systems that store time as a signed 32-bit integer. The maximum value a 32-bit integer can hold is 2,147,483,647.

This number corresponds to January 19, 2038, at 03:14:07 UTC. One second later, 32-bit clocks will overflow and flip to a negative number, interpreting the date as December 13, 1901. Modern 64-bit systems have pushed this limit billions of years into the future, solving the problem.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if I enter a negative timestamp? ▼

Negative timestamps represent dates before 1970. For example, -1 corresponds to December 31, 1969, at 23:59:59 UTC.

How do I get the current timestamp in JavaScript? ▼

Use Date.now() to get the timestamp in milliseconds. To get seconds (standard Unix time), use Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000).

Does this handle Leap Seconds? ▼

Standard Unix time ignores leap seconds. It assumes every day has exactly 86,400 seconds. This simplifies calculations but means Unix time drifts slightly from atomic time over decades. For 99.9% of applications, this is the desired behavior.

Is the conversion done on the server? ▼

No. All conversions happen locally in your browser. This ensures instant results and privacy, as your input data is never sent over the network.