What is a Unix Timestamp?
A Unix timestamp (also called epoch time) counts the number of seconds elapsed since January 1, 1970 UTC — ignoring leap seconds. It's the standard way computers and APIs store absolute time: a simple integer that's easy to sort, compare, and transmit. JavaScript's Date.now() returns the same value in milliseconds.
How to Convert Timestamp to Date
To convert epoch seconds to a date, add them to the 1970-01-01T00:00:00 UTC epoch. Most programming languages have a helper: new Date(seconds * 1000) in JavaScript, datetime.fromtimestamp(sec) in Python, or date -d @1724256000 in Linux. Our converter does exactly this and shows you the result in both UTC and your local timezone.
Unix Time in Common Formats
APIs commonly deliver time in one of three shapes: seconds (10 digits, like 1724256000), milliseconds (13 digits, from JavaScript), or ISO 8601 strings (like 2024-08-21T14:00:00.000Z). If your timestamp doesn't look right, check the digit count — divide milliseconds by 1000 to get seconds.
Unix Timestamp FAQ
What is the current Unix time? It updates live on this page (seconds since 1970-01-01 UTC). Why is my timestamp a 13-digit number? That's milliseconds — divide by 1000 for seconds. Does the converter know my timezone? It shows results in UTC and in your browser's local timezone automatically. Is my data uploaded? No — everything computes locally in your browser.