Computers rarely store dates as dates — they store a single number: the seconds (or milliseconds) elapsed since 1 January 1970, the Unix epoch. That number is compact and unambiguous, but useless to a human staring at a log line like 1768471200. This converter translates both ways. Paste a timestamp and learn the exact date and time it represents, in UTC and in your local zone; or pick a date and get the timestamp your code, database or API needs. A live readout of the current epoch time sits at the top for the hundred quick moments a developer needs ‘now, as a number’ — and it accepts both seconds and milliseconds, detecting which you gave it.
Quick Answer: Paste a Unix timestamp in seconds or milliseconds to see the human date, or pick a date to get its timestamp — plus a live current-epoch readout.
Free Online Tool
Unix Timestamp Converter
Current Unix time: … — ticking live.
How to Use the Unix Timestamp Converter
- For timestamp to date: paste the number and press Convert — seconds or milliseconds are detected automatically.
- Read the result in UTC and in your browser’s local time zone.
- For date to timestamp: pick a date and time in the second panel and press Convert.
- Copy whichever figure your code, query or ticket needs.
- Use the live epoch display whenever you need the current timestamp for testing.
Key Features
- Bidirectional conversion between timestamps and human dates.
- Automatic seconds-versus-milliseconds detection.
- Results shown in both UTC and your local time zone.
- Live ticking display of the current Unix time.
- Runs in your browser, so log data never leaves your machine.
Best Practices and Tips
- If a converted date lands in 1970 or the year 55,000, you mixed up seconds and milliseconds — a factor of 1,000 is the classic timestamp bug.
- Store and transmit timestamps in UTC; convert to local time only for display, as the two result rows here demonstrate.
- A 10-digit number is seconds; 13 digits is milliseconds — counting digits is the fastest sanity check.
- For API debugging, convert the token’s issued-at and expiry claims (JWTs use seconds) to see the real window.
- Note your own offset: the local row uses your browser’s zone, which may differ from your server’s.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Assuming every timestamp is seconds — JavaScript’s Date.now() is milliseconds, while most Unix tools emit seconds.
- Hard-coding a timezone conversion for a server that later moves regions.
- Forgetting that epoch zero differs by platform in a few legacy systems (Excel and old Mac epochs are not 1970).
- Copying the local-time row into a database field that expects UTC, shifting records by your offset.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly is the Unix epoch?
It is the agreed zero point for Unix time: midnight at the start of 1 January 1970, UTC. Every timestamp counts the seconds (or milliseconds) since that moment. Negative values represent earlier dates, though you will rarely meet them in application data.
How does the tool know if I pasted seconds or milliseconds?
By magnitude. Current time in seconds is a 10-digit number; in milliseconds it is 13 digits. The converter checks the size of your input and treats it accordingly, then states the detected unit in the result so you can confirm.
Why do UTC and local results differ?
Because your clock time depends on where you are. The instant is the same; the label differs. UTC is the universal reference (shown here alongside your zone) which is why systems store it and convert only when displaying.
What is the maximum timestamp?
In seconds, 32-bit systems famously run out in January 2038; 64-bit timestamps last far beyond any practical horizon. This converter uses JavaScript numbers, so dates within roughly ±285,000 years of 1970 convert correctly.
Can I convert a batch of timestamps?
Paste them one at a time here for interactive work. For thousands of rows, the same conversion in a spreadsheet is =A1/86400+DATE(1970,1,1) for seconds — but for log reading, debugging and one-offs, this page is the faster instrument.
Related Tools
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- Date Calculator (Add/Subtract Days) – adds and subtracts days, weeks, months and years from dates
- Base Converter – converts numbers between binary, decimal, hex and octal at once