Unix Timestamp Converter guide
A Unix timestamp counts the seconds since midnight UTC on 1 January 1970. It is how servers, databases, and logs store time, because a single number sorts, compares, and crosses time zones without ambiguity. This converter turns a timestamp into a readable date, and a date back into a timestamp.
Seconds, milliseconds, or more
The number of digits usually tells you the unit, and the converter picks it automatically. Choose one under Read as if it guesses wrong.
- Seconds, 10 digits. The classic Unix timestamp, used by most servers, databases, and APIs.
- Milliseconds, 13 digits. What JavaScript's Date.now() and Java's System.currentTimeMillis() return.
- Microseconds, 16 digits. Common in Python's datetime and in database logs.
- Nanoseconds, 19 digits. Used by Go's time.UnixNano(), InfluxDB, and OpenTelemetry traces.
Time zones
A timestamp is the same instant everywhere; only its display changes. The results show it in UTC and in your own time zone. When converting a date to a timestamp, choose whether the date you entered is in UTC or in your time zone, since the same wall-clock time is a different instant in each.
The year 2038 problem
Systems that store timestamps as signed 32-bit integers run out at 2147483647, which is 03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038. After that the number wraps to 1901. Modern systems use 64-bit timestamps, which last for billions of years.
Getting the current timestamp in code
// JavaScript (milliseconds)
Date.now()
# Python (seconds)
import time; time.time()
# Bash
date +%s
-- PostgreSQL
SELECT EXTRACT(EPOCH FROM now());
-- MySQL
SELECT UNIX_TIMESTAMP();