Timestamp Converter
Convert between Unix timestamps and human-readable dates.
How it works
- 1
Paste your input
Paste the code, text, or value you want to process with Timestamp Converter.
- 2
Run the conversion
Use the tool controls to generate, convert, validate, or inspect the result instantly.
- 3
Copy output
Copy the final output and use it in your app, script, or workflow.
Common use cases
Epoch to date
1700000000
Date to epoch
2025-01-01T00:00:00Z
About This Tool
Convert Unix epoch timestamps to human-readable dates and vice versa. Supports seconds and milliseconds, multiple date formats, and timezone-aware conversions. Shows the current Unix timestamp in real time.
Essential for debugging logs, working with APIs that use epoch time, and converting between date formats in different programming contexts.
The Unix epoch is January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC -- the reference point for all Unix timestamps. A Unix timestamp (also called epoch time or POSIX time) is the number of seconds that have elapsed since that moment, not counting leap seconds. This simple integer representation of time is used across virtually every operating system, database, and programming language because it is timezone-agnostic, compact, and easy to compare.
JavaScript uses milliseconds internally (Date.now() returns a 13-digit number), while most Unix tools, databases, and APIs use seconds (10 digits). This tool automatically detects which format your input is in -- if it is 10 digits, it treats it as seconds; if 13 digits, as milliseconds. You can also manually select the precision.
The converter uses JavaScript Date object for all calculations, which handles leap years and month lengths correctly. It displays the result in multiple formats simultaneously: ISO 8601 (2025-01-15T10:30:00.000Z), a human-readable long format (Wednesday, January 15, 2025 10:30:00 AM UTC), and the relative time (e.g., "2 hours ago" or "in 3 days").
Real-world scenarios: reading a log file with epoch timestamps and converting them to readable dates, debugging an API that returns timestamps in seconds when your frontend expects milliseconds, converting a database timestamp to a user-friendly format, checking when a JWT exp claim actually expires, and generating a timestamp for a scheduled task.
Tips: the current timestamp updates in real time at the top of the tool -- useful for reference. You can also type a natural language date (like "next Monday" or "2025-01-15") in the date input and get its epoch value instantly.
More examples
Examples
Epoch to date
Input
1700000000
Output
Tuesday, November 14, 2023 10:13:20 PM UTC
Date to epoch
Input
2025-01-01T00:00:00Z
Output
1735689600
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is a Unix timestamp?
- A Unix timestamp is the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC (the Unix epoch). It is widely used in programming to represent dates and times in a timezone-agnostic way.
- What is the difference between seconds and milliseconds?
- Standard Unix timestamps are in seconds (10 digits). JavaScript and some APIs use milliseconds (13 digits). This tool handles both automatically based on the number of digits.
- Does this tool handle time zones?
- Yes. You can convert timestamps to any time zone and see the equivalent local time alongside UTC. The tool uses the Intl.DateTimeFormat API for accurate timezone handling.
- What happens at Unix timestamp 2147483647?
- This is the Year 2038 problem for 32-bit signed integers -- the maximum value is 2147483647, which corresponds to January 19, 2038, 03:14:07 UTC. Systems using 64-bit integers are unaffected.
- Can I convert a timestamp to a specific timezone?
- Yes. The converter displays the result in UTC by default and also shows the equivalent in your local timezone. You can configure additional timezone displays.
- How do I get the current Unix timestamp?
- The tool displays the current Unix timestamp at the top of the page, updating in real time. In code, use Date.now() in JavaScript (milliseconds) or time() in PHP (seconds).