Unix Timestamp Converter (Epoch to Date)

A Unix timestamp is a single number that counts the seconds since January 1, 1970 at 00:00:00 UTC, and a Unix timestamp converter turns that number into a date you can read. The converter below works both ways: paste an epoch value to see the date, or type a date to get the epoch. It runs entirely in your browser, so nothing you enter is sent anywhere.

What a Unix Timestamp Is

A Unix timestamp, also called epoch time or POSIX time, is the number of seconds that have passed since the Unix epoch: midnight UTC on January 1, 1970. It is a single integer with no time zone, no formatting, and no ambiguity, which is why software stores and exchanges time this way. The value 0 is the epoch itself, 1000000000 is September 9, 2001, and the number grows by one every second. Because it is just a count, two systems anywhere in the world agree on the same instant without arguing about date formats or daylight saving rules.

How to Use This Converter

• Choose a direction: Timestamp to Date if you have an epoch number, or Date to Timestamp if you have a date.
• For Timestamp to Date, paste the epoch value. The tool detects whether it is in seconds or milliseconds.
• For Date to Timestamp, type a date such as 2026-01-31 or a full 2026-01-31T14:30:00Z.
• Read the result, which shows the UTC time, your local time, and the ISO 8601 string together.
• Copy whichever form you need into your code, logs, or spreadsheet.

How It Works

A Unix timestamp is a count of seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC. To turn it into a date, the tool multiplies the seconds by 1000 to reach milliseconds, the unit browsers use internally, and builds a date object from that. To go from a date to a timestamp, it reads the date’s millisecond value and divides by 1000 to get whole seconds. The conversion is exact and reversible, because both directions describe the same instant counted from the same fixed origin.

Example Timestamps

The Year 2038 Problem

Older systems store a Unix timestamp in a signed 32-bit integer, which can only count up to 2147483647 seconds. That ceiling is reached on January 19, 2038, after which the value overflows and wraps to a negative number, sending the date back to 1901. The fix is a 64-bit timestamp, which pushes the limit far beyond any practical horizon. Most current operating systems, databases, and languages already use 64-bit time, but legacy code and embedded devices remain the reason the year 2038 still gets attention.

When to Use It

Reach for a timestamp converter whenever you are reading server logs, debugging an API response, inspecting a database row, or setting an expiry value in a token or cookie. APIs and log files almost always record time as an epoch number because it is compact and unambiguous, but that number means nothing to a human until it is converted. Going the other direction, you convert a date to a timestamp when you need to write a value a program expects, such as a cache lifetime or a scheduled job time.

Is It Private?

Yes. Every conversion happens in your browser using its built-in date handling. The timestamp or date you type is never uploaded, logged, or stored on any server, so you can convert values from internal logs or private systems without exposing them. You can confirm this by disconnecting from the internet and watching the tool keep working.

Last Thoughts on Converting Unix Timestamps

A Unix timestamp is the way computers agree on a single instant in time without time zones or formatting getting in the way. The only friction for a person is that the raw number is unreadable, and the only common trap is confusing seconds with milliseconds. A converter removes both: it reads either unit, shows the UTC, local, and ISO 8601 forms side by side, and reverses the math when you hand it a date instead.

Convert your next epoch value or date above, and keep the seconds-versus-milliseconds rule in mind. For related work, see our date duration calculator to measure the span between two dates, the timezone converter for moving a time between regions, and the JSON formatter for reading the API payloads those timestamps come from. Explore the rest of our free online tools.

Key Takeaways:

• A Unix timestamp counts seconds since January 1, 1970 at 00:00:00 UTC, with no time zone attached.
• To convert to a date, multiply by 1000 for milliseconds and build a date; to reverse it, divide the millisecond value by 1000.
• Seconds have about 10 digits and milliseconds about 13; mixing them is the most common error, so this tool detects the unit for you.
• The result is shown in UTC, your local time, and ISO 8601 so you can copy whichever form you need.
• 32-bit timestamps overflow on January 19, 2038; 64-bit storage removes that limit.
• The conversion runs entirely in your browser, so nothing you enter is sent anywhere.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)