Unix Timestamp Converter
Convert Unix epoch, ISO 8601 and RFC 2822 timestamps to human-readable dates.
Output appears here as you type — decoded on your device.
Input is processed on your device. Nothing you paste is sent anywhere.
What is the Unix Timestamp Converter?
A Unix timestamp is the number of seconds elapsed since 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970, and a timestamp converter translates between that integer and human-readable date formats in both directions.
The Unix epoch is the reference point almost all computing time is measured from. Databases, log files, APIs, JWT claims and filesystem metadata store time as an offset from it, because an integer is unambiguous where a formatted date is not: no time zone, no locale, no DST edge case, just a count.
The recurring confusion is the unit. A 10-digit value is seconds; a 13-digit value is milliseconds. JavaScript's Date.now() returns milliseconds while most backends and databases use seconds, so a factor-of-1000 error puts you either in 1970 or in the year 54 000. This converter detects the magnitude and handles both.
It shows every representation at once — ISO 8601, both epoch forms, your local time, UTC, and a relative description like '3 hours ago' — and works in reverse, so pasting a date string returns the matching timestamp.
Unix Timestamp Converter at a glance
- Epoch
- 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
- 10 digits
- Seconds — the standard Unix timestamp
- 13 digits
- Milliseconds — JavaScript's Date.now()
- 2038 problem
- Signed 32-bit seconds overflow on 19 January 2038
How to use the Unix Timestamp Converter
- 1Paste an epoch timestamp, or an ISO 8601 / RFC 2822 date string.
- 2The unit is detected automatically — 10 digits as seconds, 13 as milliseconds.
- 3Read the UTC, local, ISO and relative forms, and copy whichever you need.
When you would reach for it
- Reading a timestamp out of a log line or database column.
- Checking a JWT's exp or iat claim against the current time.
- Converting a date into an epoch value for an API query parameter.
Unix Timestamp Converter — frequently asked questions
Last reviewed · questions or corrections: contact@decoder.tools