What is a Unix timestamp?

A Unix timestamp (also called epoch time) is the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970 at 00:00:00 UTC, not counting leap seconds. It is the most widely used time representation in computing, used by operating systems, databases, and APIs worldwide.

Seconds or milliseconds — how do I tell which one I have?

A 10-digit number is almost certainly seconds (valid from 2001 through 2286). A 13-digit number is almost certainly milliseconds. This tool auto-detects the unit when you type, but you can override it with the toggle.

What is the Y2038 problem?

Many legacy 32-bit systems store Unix time as a signed 32-bit integer, which overflows on January 19, 2038 at 03:14:07 UTC — the maximum value is 2,147,483,647 seconds. After that moment the counter wraps to a large negative number, causing date errors. 64-bit systems are not affected; their timestamps are valid for hundreds of billions of years.

How do timezones affect a Unix timestamp?

They do not. A Unix timestamp always represents a single absolute moment in UTC. Timezones only affect how that moment is displayed as a wall-clock time. Converting the same timestamp in New York and Tokyo gives different local strings but the underlying integer is identical.

Unix Timestamp Converter

Name: Unix Timestamp Converter
Availability: InStock
Author: Nham Vu

Enter a Unix timestamp to convert it to a human-readable date, or pick a date and timezone to get its Unix timestamp in seconds and milliseconds.

Current Unix Timestamp

—

— ms

Timestamp to Date

Unix Timestamp

Unit

Enter a timestamp above to see the converted dates.

Date to Timestamp

Date & Time

Timezone

Pick a date and time above to see the Unix timestamps.

Notable Unix Timestamps

Event	Timestamp (s)	Date (UTC)
Unix Epoch	0	Jan 1, 1970 00:00:00 UTC
Y2K (Jan 1, 2000)	946684800	Jan 1, 2000 00:00:00 UTC
Billion-second mark	1000000000	Sep 9, 2001 01:46:40 UTC
iPhone launch	1173657600	Mar 12, 2007 00:00:00 UTC
Y2038 overflow (32-bit)	2147483647	Jan 19, 2038 03:14:07 UTC
Year 3000	32503680000	Jan 1, 3000 00:00:00 UTC

Click any row to load that timestamp in the converter above.

Summary

Enter a Unix timestamp to convert it to a human-readable date, or pick a date and timezone to get its Unix timestamp in seconds and milliseconds.

How it works

The live counter at the top always shows the current Unix timestamp in seconds.
To convert a timestamp to a date, enter the number in the "Timestamp to Date" section and choose seconds or milliseconds.
To convert a date to a timestamp, pick a date and time in the "Date to Timestamp" section and select a timezone.
Click any copy button to copy an output value to your clipboard.

Use cases

Debugging API logs: decode epoch values in server responses or log files.
Generating expiration timestamps: calculate a future Unix time for token or session expiry.
Scheduled tasks: convert a cron or scheduler run time to a human-readable date for verification.

Frequently Asked Questions

Last updated: 2026-06-09 · Reviewed by Nham Vu