Unix Timestamp Converter
Timestamp to Date
Date to Timestamp
About Unix Timestamps
What is Unix Time?
Unix time (also called Epoch time or POSIX time) counts the number of seconds since January 1, 1970 00:00:00 UTC, known as the Unix Epoch. It's timezone-independent and widely used in computing for date/time storage and calculations.
Year 2038 Problem
32-bit systems storing timestamps as signed integers will overflow on January 19, 2038 at 03:14:07 UTC. The maximum value (2,147,483,647) will wrap to negative. Modern 64-bit systems avoid this by using 64-bit integers.
Milliseconds vs Seconds
Unix traditionally uses seconds (10 digits), while JavaScript's Date.now() returns milliseconds (13 digits). Our tool automatically detects and handles both formats. Divide by 1000 to convert milliseconds to seconds.
Important Timestamps
Unix Epoch
0 = January 1, 1970 00:00:00 UTC
This is the starting point for Unix time. Negative timestamps represent dates before 1970.
Y2K
946684800 = January 1, 2000 00:00:00 UTC
The start of the new millennium in Unix time.
32-bit Overflow
2147483647 = January 19, 2038 03:14:07 UTC
Maximum value for signed 32-bit integer timestamps.
Billion Seconds
1000000000 = September 9, 2001 01:46:40 UTC
The first 10-digit Unix timestamp milestone.
Timestamp FAQ
Why use Unix timestamps instead of date strings?
Unix timestamps are timezone-independent, making them ideal for global applications. They're compact (just a number), easy to compare and sort, and avoid date format ambiguity (MM/DD vs DD/MM). They're also efficient for database storage and calculations like finding time differences.
How do I get the current timestamp in different languages?
JavaScript: Math.floor(Date.now()/1000)
PHP: time()
Python: import time; time.time()
Java: System.currentTimeMillis()/1000
MySQL: UNIX_TIMESTAMP()
What about dates before 1970?
Dates before January 1, 1970 are represented as negative timestamps. For example, December 31, 1969 23:59:59 UTC is -1. Most modern systems support negative timestamps, but some older systems or databases may not handle them correctly.
How do timezones affect Unix timestamps?
Unix timestamps are always in UTC and don't include timezone information. The same timestamp represents the same moment in time worldwide. When displaying to users, convert to their local timezone. When storing user input, convert from local time to UTC first.