A Unix timestamp counts the seconds since midnight UTC on 1 January 1970, and it's how most systems store moments in time. Paste a timestamp, in seconds or milliseconds, and this tool turns it into a readable date in UTC and in your own time zone, and says how long ago or far ahead that moment is. It also works the other way: type a date and get the timestamp.
How to use it
- Enter a timestamp, or a date such as 2026-01-01 12:00.
- Read the seconds, milliseconds, UTC time and your local time.
- Check the relative time.
- Press Use the current time to see the present moment.
When it helps
- Reading timestamps in logs and databases.
- Producing timestamps for API calls.
- Debugging date bugs across time zones.
- Checking when a token expires.
Good to know
- A 10-digit number is usually seconds and a 13-digit one is milliseconds, and the tool guesses accordingly.
- A date typed without a time zone is read in your local time.
- Share times between systems in UTC to avoid confusion.
How Unix time works
Unix time counts the seconds since 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970, ignoring leap seconds. It's a single number with no time zone attached, which is why systems love it: two timestamps can be compared, subtracted and sorted without any calendar rules. Converting to a readable date is the only step that needs a time zone.
JavaScript and many APIs use milliseconds instead, which is 1,000 times bigger. That's why one timestamp has ten digits and another thirteen, and the tool guesses which you gave from its size.
Worked example: reading a log line
A log shows 1767225600. Paste it in and you'll see 1 January 2026, 00:00:00 UTC, with your local time next to it. If you're in Lagos (UTC+1), that's 1 a.m. the same day. The relative line tells you how long ago that was, useful for deciding if an event is recent.
Going the other way, type 2026-06-15 14:30 and get the timestamp, which you can paste into an API request or a database query.
The year 2038 problem
Older systems stored Unix time as a signed 32-bit integer, which runs out at 03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038. After that it wraps to a negative number, representing 1901. Most modern systems use 64 bits, which lasts for billions of years, but embedded devices and old databases may still be affected.
If you're designing a system today, use 64-bit timestamps or a proper date type, and always store times in UTC.
Using timestamps in practice
In JavaScript, Date.now() gives milliseconds, and dividing by 1,000 gives seconds. In Python, time.time() returns seconds as a decimal. In SQL, functions such as UNIX_TIMESTAMP and to_timestamp convert between timestamps and dates.
When debugging, always check whether a number is in seconds or milliseconds first. A timestamp that appears to be from 1970 is usually seconds read as milliseconds.
Questions
What's the Unix epoch?
Midnight UTC on 1 January 1970, the starting point of Unix time.
Does it handle dates before 1970?
Yes, as negative timestamps.