Free · UTC-exact · live epoch
Unix Timestamp Converter
Turn an epoch into a readable date or a date into its epoch — with the seconds-versus-milliseconds trap handled automatically, both UTC and local time shown, and the current Unix time ticking live.
Short answer
A Unix timestamp counts seconds since January 1, 1970 UTC — one integer, no timezones. The classic trap is units: APIs use seconds (10 digits), JavaScript uses milliseconds (13 digits) — mix them up and your date is off by a factor of 1,000. Paste either below; the converter detects the unit and shows UTC and your local time.
Current epoch: …
Detected seconds.
UTC date & time
2023-11-14T22:13:20Z
- Weekday
- Tuesday
- Your local time
- 11/14/2023, 10:13:20 PM
- In milliseconds
- 1,700,000,000,000
Famous epochs and the 2038 rollover
Famous Unix timestamps
| Epoch | UTC date & time | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z | The epoch itself — where Unix time starts |
| 1,000,000,000 | 2001-09-09T01:46:40Z | Round-number epoch |
| 1,234,567,890 | 2009-02-13T23:31:30Z | The 1234567890 celebration |
| 1,500,000,000 | 2017-07-14T02:40:00Z | Round-number epoch |
| 1,600,000,000 | 2020-09-13T12:26:40Z | Round-number epoch |
| 1,700,000,000 | 2023-11-14T22:13:20Z | Round-number epoch |
| 1,800,000,000 | 2027-01-15T08:00:00Z | Round-number epoch |
| 2,000,000,000 | 2033-05-18T03:33:20Z | Round-number epoch |
| 2,147,483,647 | 2038-01-19T03:14:07Z | 32-bit overflow — the Year 2038 problem |
All times UTC, computed from the same conversion the tool uses.
Why machines keep time this way
Human time is a mess of zones, offsets, and daylight rules; epoch time is one monotonic integer that means the same instant everywhere. Store epochs, do arithmetic on epochs, and only convert to local time at the last moment for display — that single discipline eliminates whole categories of bugs. The wrinkles that remain are few and famous: the seconds-versus-milliseconds unit trap, and the 32-bit overflow coming in 2038, both covered on this page.
How we calculate this
One integer, three conventions worth knowing:
- The epoch. Unix time counts seconds since 1970-01-01T00:00:00 UTC — no timezones, no leap-second bookkeeping (each UTC day is exactly 86,400 counted seconds). Negative values reach before 1970.
- Seconds vs milliseconds. APIs and databases usually use seconds (10 digits today); JavaScript uses milliseconds (13 digits). The tool auto-detects by magnitude, since second-values won't reach 12 digits until the year 5138.
- Date → epoch. the calendar date is interpreted in UTC and converted back; impossible dates (February 30) are rejected rather than silently rolled forward.
Assumptions
- Local-time displays use your browser's timezone; the epoch itself is timezone-free.
- Leap seconds are ignored, exactly as Unix time itself ignores them.
- 32-bit systems overflow at epoch 2,147,483,647 (see the Year 2038 page); this converter is 64-bit throughout.
Sources
Last reviewed: July 29, 2026
Frequently asked questions
What is a Unix timestamp?+
A single integer counting the seconds since January 1, 1970 at 00:00:00 UTC — the 'Unix epoch'. It's how computers store and exchange time without timezones, formats, or locales: 1,700,000,000 means the same instant everywhere on Earth. Negative values reach back before 1970. Nearly every operating system, database, and API speaks it natively.
Why is my timestamp off by a factor of 1,000?+
Seconds versus milliseconds — the classic trap. Most systems (Unix tools, most APIs, databases) count seconds: 10 digits today. JavaScript's Date.now() counts milliseconds: 13 digits. Feed a millisecond value into a seconds field and you get a date around the year 55,000; the reverse lands you in January 1970. This converter detects the unit by magnitude automatically and labels which it used.
What is the Year 2038 problem?+
Systems that store Unix time in a signed 32-bit integer run out of room at 2,147,483,647 — which is 03:14:07 UTC on January 19, 2038. One second later the counter wraps to December 1901. Modern 64-bit systems are unaffected, and Linux fixed its 32-bit interfaces in 2020, but embedded devices and old data formats with hard-coded 32-bit time fields remain the long tail. Our Year 2038 page covers what breaks and what's already fixed.
Does Unix time handle timezones and daylight saving?+
By not having them: the epoch count is identical worldwide, and timezones only appear when you FORMAT a timestamp for humans. That's precisely its virtue — store epochs, convert to local time at display, and DST bugs disappear. This tool shows both the UTC form and your browser's local rendering of the same instant.
What about leap seconds?+
Unix time pretends they don't exist: every UTC day is exactly 86,400 counted seconds, and during a leap second the count effectively repeats. For virtually all engineering purposes that's a feature — arithmetic stays trivial — and with leap seconds set to be abandoned by 2035, the discrepancy (currently 27 seconds versus atomic time) stops growing.
How do I get the current Unix timestamp in my language?+
JavaScript: Math.floor(Date.now()/1000) · Python: int(time.time()) · Java/Kotlin: Instant.now().getEpochSecond() · Go: time.Now().Unix() · SQL: strftime('%s','now') in SQLite, EXTRACT(EPOCH FROM now()) in Postgres · shell: date +%s. The live counter at the top of this page shows the current epoch ticking in real time.
All conversion happens in your browser — nothing you enter is transmitted.