Timestamp Converter
Epoch & Date Converter

A Unix timestamp represents the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC, known as the Unix epoch. This date was chosen as a reference point when Unix systems were being developed in the early 1970s. It provides a simple, universal way to represent dates and times across different systems and timezones without ambiguity.

A seconds timestamp has 10 digits (e.g., 1705329000), while a milliseconds timestamp has 13 digits (e.g., 1705329000000). JavaScript's Date.now() returns milliseconds, while many APIs use seconds. This tool automatically detects which format you're using.

No, Unix timestamps are always stored in UTC and are completely independent of timezones and daylight saving time. A timestamp represents an absolute point in time that is the same everywhere in the world. Timezone conversions only happen when displaying the timestamp as a human-readable date, but the underlying timestamp value never changes.

Unix time and epoch time are different names for the same thing - the number of seconds since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC. Other common names include POSIX time and Unix timestamp. They all refer to the same time measurement standard used across computing systems worldwide.

The Year 2038 problem occurs because 32-bit signed integers can only represent dates up to January 19, 2038, at 03:14:07 UTC, after which they overflow. Modern systems use 64-bit integers which won't overflow for billions of years. JavaScript uses 64-bit floating-point numbers for timestamps, so it's not affected by this limitation.

Different results usually occur because tools may be displaying the date in different timezones. The actual timestamp value is correct and identical, but it appears different when shown in your local timezone versus UTC or another timezone. Always check which timezone is being used for display. This tool clearly labels UTC and local timezone outputs separately.

For most databases, store timestamps as integers (Unix timestamps in seconds) or use the database's native datetime type. Unix timestamps are compact, easy to compare mathematically, and timezone-independent. For human readability in logs or exports, use ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.sssZ) which is unambiguous and sorts correctly as text.

Use the timezone selector dropdown to choose any timezone from around the world. The tool will automatically convert and display the timestamp in your selected timezone while keeping the underlying timestamp value unchanged. You can switch between timezones instantly to see how the same moment in time appears in different locations.

Negative timestamps represent dates before January 1, 1970. For example, -86400 represents December 31, 1969. Simply enter the negative number into the converter, and it will correctly calculate and display the date before the Unix epoch. This tool handles negative timestamps just like positive ones.

No, Unix timestamps do not account for leap seconds. They assume every day has exactly 86,400 seconds, even though leap seconds are occasionally added to UTC to account for Earth's irregular rotation. This means Unix time can be off by several seconds from actual UTC, but this difference is negligible for most applications.