Unix Timestamp Converter
Convert between Unix timestamps and human-readable dates.
Current Unix Timestamp
1772362971Timestamp → Date
Date → Timestamp
About This Tool
A Unix timestamp represents time as the number of seconds elapsed since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC (the 'Unix Epoch'). It's the universal language of time in computing — used by databases, APIs, log files, and operating systems worldwide.
When to Use
- Debugging API responses that return numeric timestamps.
- Setting token expiration dates (the 'exp' field in JWT is a Unix timestamp).
- Comparing log timestamps from different servers in different timezones.
- Calculating time differences precisely without timezone ambiguity.
Practical Examples
Year 2038 Problem32-bit systems store timestamps as signed int, which overflows on Jan 19, 2038 at 03:14:07 UTC.
13 vs 10 digits10-digit = seconds (e.g. 1709298000). 13-digit = milliseconds (JavaScript's Date.now()).
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Mixing seconds and milliseconds: divide by 1000 when passing JS Date.now() to an API expecting seconds.
- Storing timestamps in local timezone — always use UTC/Unix internally.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What's epoch time exactly?A. January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC. This was chosen arbitrarily as the 'start of time' for Unix systems.