Unix Timestamp Converter
Convert Unix timestamps (Epoch time) to human-readable dates and back. Our free, secure tool handles seconds, milliseconds, and microseconds, showing dates in both local time and UTC.
Conversion Results
Your Local Time
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UTC / GMT
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Relative Time
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What is a Unix Timestamp? A Developer's Guide to Epoch Time
From a Single Number to a Human-Readable Date
A Unix timestamp, also known as Epoch time, is a universal standard for tracking time in computing. It represents a point in time as the total number of seconds that have elapsed since 00:00:00 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on Thursday, 1 January 1970. This starting point is referred to as the Unix epoch.
This simple, numerical system is the lingua franca for servers, databases, and programming languages worldwide because it is unambiguous. A timestamp of 1672531200 represents the exact same moment in time whether you are in New York, London, or Tokyo, eliminating the complexities of timezones and daylight saving. Our free Unix Timestamp Converter is an essential developer tool for translating this machine-readable number into a human-readable date, and vice versa.
Why Do Programmers Use Timestamps?
- Database Storage: Storing dates as a single integer (a timestamp) is efficient and makes sorting and comparing dates trivial.
- API Communication: When two systems exchange date information, using a timestamp avoids any confusion about timezones.
- Logging and Caching: Timestamps provide a precise and simple way to record when an event happened or when a piece of data was cached.
- Calculations: Calculating the duration between two events is as simple as subtracting one timestamp from another.
Ready to start converting? Try our free timestamp converter now and see how easy it is to work with epoch time.
How to Use the Timestamp Converter
A simple step-by-step guide to converting epoch time.
- Enter Your Data:
- To convert a timestamp to a date, paste your number into the "Unix Timestamp" field.
- To convert a date to a timestamp, use the date and time picker in the "Human-Readable Date" field.
- Automatic Conversion: The tool converts in real-time. As soon as you input data into one field, the other will update automatically.
- Review the Results: The "Conversion Results" card instantly shows you the corresponding date in three formats: your local timezone, UTC/GMT, and a relative time (e.g., "about 2 hours ago"). This gives you a complete picture of the point in time.
- Handling Precision (Seconds vs. Milliseconds): Our tool is smart enough to handle different levels of precision. It automatically detects if your timestamp is in seconds (a 10-digit number), milliseconds (a 13-digit number), or even microseconds, and performs the correct conversion.
Related Developer Tools
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If you're working with web authentication tokens, you'll often find timestamps used for expiration (`exp`) and issued-at (`iat`) claims. You can inspect these with our JWT Debugger.
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