How to Convert a Unix Timestamp to a Date (and Back)
Timestamp ConverterEpoch time to dates and back. Free, no sign-up.A Unix timestamp counts the time since 1 January 1970 at 00:00 UTC. Logs, APIs, databases and tokens use it because it is one number with no time zone attached. People cannot read it, so it needs converting.
Convert a timestamp
- Open the Timestamp Converter.
- Paste the number. The tool works out whether it is in seconds, milliseconds or microseconds from its length.
- Read the result as UTC, in your local time zone, as ISO 8601 and as relative time (“3 days ago”).
It also works the other way: type a date such as 2026-10-07 14:30 and copy the seconds or milliseconds.
Examples
| Timestamp | Unit | UTC |
|---|---|---|
1791331200 |
seconds | 2026-10-07 00:00:00 |
1791331200000 |
milliseconds | 2026-10-07 00:00:00 |
0 |
seconds | 1970-01-01 00:00:00 |
Common mistakes
- Seconds vs milliseconds. JavaScript’s
Date.now()and Java use milliseconds; most Unix tools, PHP, Python’stime.time()and JWTs use seconds. A date in 1970 means you read milliseconds as seconds. A date tens of thousands of years from now means the opposite. - Time zones. A timestamp has no time zone; only the display does. “14:00 UTC” is 16:00 in Berlin in summer. When comparing logs from servers in different places, compare UTC.
- Daylight saving time. Local times can repeat or be skipped when clocks change, but timestamps never do. Store timestamps, and convert to local time only for display.
- The year 2038 problem. Signed 32-bit seconds overflow on 19 January 2038. Modern systems use 64-bit values; very old databases and devices may not.
Related checks
- Token expiry: the
expandiatclaims of a JWT are timestamps in seconds. The JWT Decoder shows them as dates. - Meetings across time zones: the Time Zone Converter compares cities side by side.
The converter runs in your browser; nothing you paste is sent anywhere.