Timestamp / Epoch Converter

Convert between Unix timestamps and human-readable dates. Live epoch clock included. 100% client-side.

—
Current Unix Timestamp (seconds)

Unix Timestamp → Human Date

Enter a timestamp above and click Convert.

Human Date → Unix Timestamp

Select a date above and click Convert.
Enter a timestamp or select a date to convert.

How to Use the Timestamp Converter

  1. Choose your unit — select Seconds or Milliseconds depending on your timestamp format.
  2. Convert timestamp to date — enter a Unix timestamp in the first section and click Convert to see the human-readable date in multiple formats.
  3. Convert date to timestamp — pick a date and time in the second section and click Convert to get the Unix timestamp.
  4. Use the live clock — the current Unix timestamp updates every second at the top of the page.
  5. Copy results — click Copy Results to copy the last conversion output to your clipboard.

What This Tool Does

This timestamp converter translates between Unix epoch timestamps (the number of seconds or milliseconds since January 1, 1970 UTC) and human-readable date strings. It displays results in multiple formats: UTC, your local timezone, ISO 8601, and a relative time description (like "3 days ago" or "in 2 hours"). The live clock at the top shows the current Unix timestamp updating in real time.

Features

  • Bidirectional conversion — timestamp to date and date to timestamp in one tool
  • Seconds and milliseconds — supports both 10-digit (seconds) and 13-digit (milliseconds) timestamps
  • Multiple output formats — UTC, local time, ISO 8601, and relative time
  • Live epoch clock — current Unix timestamp updating every second
  • Quick "Now" button — instantly fill in the current time for either direction
  • Privacy — all conversions happen in your browser using JavaScript's Date object

Understanding Unix Timestamps

The Unix epoch (or Unix time) was chosen as January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC — the birth of the Unix operating system. Every second since then increments the timestamp by 1. At the time of writing, Unix timestamps are around 1.7 billion seconds. This simple integer representation makes it trivial to compute time differences, store dates in databases, and transmit dates across systems regardless of timezone.

Seconds vs. Milliseconds

The original Unix timestamp counts seconds and is 10 digits long (e.g., 1700000000). JavaScript, Java, and many modern APIs use milliseconds — 13 digits long (e.g., 1700000000000). This tool auto-detects the format based on magnitude, but you can also explicitly choose Seconds or Milliseconds using the chips above. If your timestamp is 10 digits, it is seconds; if it is 13 digits, it is milliseconds.

The Year 2038 Problem

On January 19, 2038, 32-bit signed integer timestamps will overflow, wrapping around to a date in 1901. This affects legacy C programs, embedded systems, and databases using 32-bit integers for time storage. Modern 64-bit systems and JavaScript (which uses 64-bit floating point numbers for timestamps) will not be affected. JavaScript's Date object can represent dates far beyond 2038.

ISO 8601 and RFC 3339

This tool shows dates in ISO 8601 format (e.g., 2024-01-15T14:30:00.000Z), which is the international standard for date interchange. It is unambiguous — the "T" separates date from time, and "Z" means UTC. Most APIs, databases, and programming languages support ISO 8601 parsing and formatting. The closely related RFC 3339 is a profile of ISO 8601 used in internet protocols. For scheduling tasks based on timestamps, try our Cron Parser. If you are working with JWT tokens that contain exp and iat claims, our JWT Decoder displays these timestamps alongside human-readable dates. You can also generate time-sortable unique identifiers with our UUID Generator.

Frequently Asked Questions

A Unix timestamp (also called epoch time or POSIX time) is the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC. It is a widely used standard for representing time in computing because it is timezone-independent and easy to store as a single integer.
Unix timestamps in seconds are 10 digits long (e.g., 1700000000) and count seconds since the epoch. Millisecond timestamps are 13 digits long (e.g., 1700000000000) and count milliseconds since the epoch. JavaScript's Date.now() returns milliseconds, while most Unix/Linux commands return seconds.
No. This timestamp converter runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript's built-in Date object. No data is sent to any server. The live clock and all conversions are computed locally on your device.
The Year 2038 problem occurs because many systems store Unix timestamps as 32-bit signed integers, which can only represent dates up to January 19, 2038, 03:14:07 UTC. After that, the integer overflows. Modern 64-bit systems and JavaScript (which uses 64-bit floats) are not affected by this limitation.
ISO 8601 is an international standard for date and time representation. It uses the format YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.sssZ, where T separates date and time, and Z indicates UTC. For example, 2024-01-15T14:30:00.000Z. It is the most unambiguous way to represent dates in data exchange.