Epoch Converter
Convert Unix/epoch timestamps to human-readable dates, and dates back to timestamps — instantly, entirely in your browser.
Current Unix time (seconds)
—
Timestamp → Date
Date → Timestamp
Interpreted in your local timezone (local).
What is Unix time?
Unix time (also called epoch time or POSIX time) counts the number of seconds that have elapsed since 00:00:00 UTC on January 1, 1970, ignoring leap seconds. It's the standard way most operating systems, programming languages, databases, and APIs represent a point in time internally — as a single number rather than a formatted string.
Why use a timestamp instead of a date string?
A timestamp is timezone-independent, sorts numerically, and is trivial to do arithmetic on (e.g. "is this token expired?" or "how many days between these two events?"). Formatted date strings only enter the picture when you need to display a timestamp to a human — and that's exactly what this tool converts between.
Common use cases
- Debugging API responses or database rows that store
created_atas an epoch integer - Checking a JWT's
exp/iatclaims (see the JWT decoder) - Converting log timestamps to your local timezone
- Scheduling or cache-expiry calculations
Frequently asked questions
- What is a Unix/epoch timestamp?
- It's the number of seconds (or milliseconds) that have elapsed since 00:00:00 UTC on January 1, 1970 — the 'Unix epoch'. Computers store dates this way because it's a single, unambiguous number that's easy to compare and do math on.
- Why do some timestamps have 10 digits and others 13?
- 10 digits usually means seconds since the epoch (used by Unix/Linux, most APIs, and databases). 13 digits usually means milliseconds (used by JavaScript's Date.now() and many web APIs). This tool lets you pick either.
- Does a Unix timestamp include a timezone?
- No — a Unix timestamp always represents a single, absolute instant in UTC. Timezones only come into play when you format that instant into a human-readable string, which is why this tool shows both your local time and UTC.
- What happens in 2038?
- Systems that store epoch seconds in a signed 32-bit integer will overflow on January 19, 2038 (the 'Year 2038 problem'). Most modern systems use 64-bit integers and aren't affected.