Timestamp Converter
Convert between Unix timestamps and human-readable dates
Current Unix Timestamp
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Current Date/Time
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Unix time, one facet at a time
A Unix timestamp counts seconds or milliseconds since 1970-01-01 UTC, the format computers like because it is one integer. People prefer a time like 3:47 PM Tuesday. The tool converts both directions: paste a numeric timestamp on one side, or pick a date and time on the other, and read the result in ISO 8601, your local zone, and UTC.
Seconds or milliseconds
Unix started in seconds; JavaScript chose milliseconds for sub-second resolution without decimals, and many APIs and databases followed. The tool tells the two apart with a single cutoff: a value below one trillion reads as seconds, anything larger reads as milliseconds. Every current 10-digit second count falls under that line and every 13-digit millisecond count lands over it, so values from either family convert without you naming the unit.
The unit mix-up behind most bugs
One system writes milliseconds, another reads them as seconds, and the date jumps tens of thousands of years into the future. When a converted date looks wildly off, the unit is almost always the reason, so check which unit the producing system writes before trusting a stored value.
A timestamp has no timezone
A Unix timestamp marks an absolute moment, not a wall-clock reading, so it carries no zone. The tool shows UTC as the canonical answer and your local time from the browser setting alongside it. For another zone, take the UTC value and apply that zone's offset.
Why 2038 keeps coming up
A 32-bit signed timestamp overflows in January 2038 and wraps to a negative number that reads as 1901. Systems on 64-bit time, this tool included through JavaScript dates, push the limit far past that: JavaScript represents moments out to the year 275,760, so the overflow does not apply here.
Timestamp questions
- My date shows as 1970. What went wrong?
- Some system read a seconds value as milliseconds, which lands in mid-January 1970. The reverse mistake, reading milliseconds as seconds, throws the date tens of thousands of years out, near the year 55,000. Paste the raw number here and the one-trillion cutoff sorts it into the right unit.
- Does it take dates before 1970?
- Yes. A negative timestamp counts seconds before 1970-01-01 UTC, so -86400 is 1969-12-31, and the tool handles dates well back into the 19th century.
- Can I go from a date to a timestamp?
- Yes, through the date picker on the Date to Unix Timestamp side. Set the date and time, or press the refresh button to load the current moment, and the tool returns the Unix value in both seconds and milliseconds along with the ISO 8601 form.