Timestamp Converter
Convert between Unix timestamps and human-readable dates with timezone support.
Current Unix Timestamp
Timestamp → Date
Date → Timestamp
Common Reference Points
| Event | Date | Timestamp | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unix Epoch | Jan 1, 1970 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | |
| Y2K | Jan 1, 2000 00:00:00 UTC | 946684800 | |
| 32-bit Overflow | Jan 19, 2038 03:14:07 UTC | 2147483647 | |
| Billion Seconds | Sep 9, 2001 01:46:40 UTC | 1000000000 | |
| 2 Billion Seconds | May 18, 2033 03:33:20 UTC | 2000000000 |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Unix timestamp?
A Unix timestamp (or epoch time) is the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970 at 00:00:00 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). It's a standard way to represent time in computing systems, making it easy to store, compare, and calculate dates.
What's the difference between seconds and milliseconds?
Unix timestamps are traditionally measured in seconds, while JavaScript's
Date.now() returns milliseconds. A millisecond timestamp has 13 digits, while a
seconds timestamp has 10 digits. To convert: milliseconds = seconds × 1000.
What is the Year 2038 problem?
32-bit systems store timestamps as signed integers, which can only represent values up to 2,147,483,647. This timestamp corresponds to January 19, 2038 at 03:14:07 UTC. After this point, the value overflows to negative, causing date errors. Modern 64-bit systems don't have this limitation.
Why use timestamps instead of dates?
Timestamps are timezone-independent, making them ideal for storing and comparing dates across different regions. They're also easier to sort, calculate differences between dates, and don't have formatting ambiguity issues like "DD/MM/YYYY" vs "MM/DD/YYYY".
What is ISO 8601 format?
ISO 8601 is an international standard for date and time representation. The format is:
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.sssZ. For example, "2024-01-15T14:30:00.000Z". The "T"
separates date and time, and "Z" indicates UTC timezone.