Unix Timestamp Converter
A Unix timestamp is the number of seconds since January 1, 1970 00:00:00 UTC (the “epoch”). Convert any timestamp to a human readable date, or pick a date to get its timestamp. The live clock at the top shows the current Unix time, updating every second.
How to Use
- View the live clock at the top showing the current Unix timestamp
- Convert timestamp to date: Enter a Unix timestamp (seconds or milliseconds) in the left panel
- Convert date to timestamp: Pick a date and time in the right panel
- Change timezone: Search for a timezone using the dropdown
Understanding Unix Time
Unix time counts the number of seconds since the Unix epoch: midnight UTC on January 1, 1970. This simple counting system is used universally in computing because it is timezone independent, easy to compare (just compare two numbers), compact to store, and unambiguous across systems and programming languages.
Most programming languages and databases support Unix timestamps natively. In JavaScript, Date.now() returns the current time in milliseconds. In Python, time.time() returns seconds. APIs commonly use Unix timestamps in their payloads to avoid date format parsing issues.
Auto Detection
This tool automatically detects whether your input is in seconds or milliseconds. If the number is greater than 10^12, it is treated as milliseconds; otherwise, it is treated as seconds. A small indicator shows which format was detected.
Unix timestamps appear throughout developer tools. JWT tokens store exp and iat claims as Unix timestamps. Use the JWT Decoder to inspect token expiration. Cron jobs fire based on time schedules, and the Cron Expression Builder helps you set those up. UUID v7 encodes a millisecond timestamp in its first 48 bits, which the UUID Generator can produce.