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Unix Timestamp Converter — Convert Epoch Time to Human Dates

Free

Convert Unix timestamps to readable dates and dates to Unix timestamps instantly. Milliseconds and seconds. Any timezone. Free, browser-based.

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Settings guide

Input type (auto-detected):

  • ·Seconds (10-digit) — Standard Unix timestamp. Used by most Unix/Linux system calls, POSIX APIs, and database timestamp types.
  • ·Milliseconds (13-digit) — JavaScript's Date.now() output. Used by JavaScript APIs, many REST APIs, and event logging systems.

Timezone output:

  • ·Convert to any IANA timezone (America/New_York, Europe/London, Asia/Tokyo, etc.)
  • ·UTC offset display alongside the timezone name
  • ·Show both UTC and local time simultaneously

Direction:

  • ·Timestamp → date: paste any Unix timestamp
  • ·Date → timestamp: select a date/time and get the corresponding Unix timestamp in seconds and milliseconds

Format comparison

Unix timestamp vs ISO 8601 string: Unix timestamps are timezone-agnostic (always UTC-relative) and compact — ideal for storage and computation. ISO 8601 strings (2026-01-15T14:30:00Z) are human-readable and self-documenting. APIs use both. Unix timestamps are preferable for arithmetic (duration = ts2 - ts1, no timezone conversions needed); ISO 8601 is preferable for display and interchange.

Seconds vs milliseconds — how to tell: Count the digits. A current timestamp in seconds is 10 digits (1700000000 was in November 2023). In milliseconds it is 13 digits (1700000000000). JavaScript's Date.now() always returns milliseconds; Python's time.time() always returns seconds (as a float).

How it works

1

Detect precision

The input is checked for length. 10 digits → seconds. 13 digits → milliseconds. Values between 10 and 13 digits are ambiguous — the tool flags this and asks.

2

Convert to UTC

The timestamp is multiplied or divided as needed to produce a millisecond value, then converted to a JavaScript Date object (which represents UTC internally).

3

Apply timezone

The UTC date is displayed in the selected timezone using the Intl.DateTimeFormat API with the IANA timezone database. Daylight saving time offsets are applied automatically.

4

Show all formats

The output shows: ISO 8601 UTC string, ISO 8601 in the selected timezone, human-readable long format, Unix timestamp in seconds, and Unix timestamp in milliseconds — all simultaneously.

About this format

Unix timestamps are the number of seconds (or milliseconds) elapsed since 1 January 1970 00:00:00 UTC. They appear in database columns, API responses, JWT tokens (`exp`, `iat` claims), server logs, and file system metadata. Paste a timestamp and see the human-readable date and time in any timezone — or enter a date and get the corresponding timestamp.

A common gotcha: some systems use milliseconds (13-digit timestamps), others use seconds (10-digit). The converter detects and handles both automatically.

Frequently asked questions

What is a Unix timestamp?+
A Unix timestamp is the number of seconds elapsed since the Unix epoch: 1 January 1970 00:00:00 UTC. It is a single integer that represents any point in time unambiguously, regardless of timezone. Negative values represent times before the epoch.
How do I know if my timestamp is in seconds or milliseconds?+
Count the digits. As of 2026, Unix timestamps in seconds are 10 digits (around 1,700,000,000). In milliseconds they are 13 digits (around 1,700,000,000,000). JavaScript's Date.now() returns milliseconds; Python's time.time() and most Unix system calls return seconds.
What is the maximum date a Unix timestamp can represent?+
Using a 32-bit signed integer (the original Unix implementation), the maximum is 2,147,483,647 seconds — 19 January 2038 at 03:14:07 UTC. This is the Unix Y2K38 problem. Using 64-bit integers (all modern systems), the maximum is approximately 292 billion years from now.
How do I get the current Unix timestamp in JavaScript?+
Date.now() returns the current time in milliseconds. Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000) gives seconds. In the browser console: Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000). In Node.js: the same, or process.hrtime.bigint() for nanosecond precision.
Does the conversion account for daylight saving time?+
Yes. The converter uses the IANA timezone database (via the browser's Intl API) which includes all historical and current daylight saving time rules. Entering a timestamp during a DST transition will show the correct offset for that exact moment.

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