Epoch Converter
Convert Unix timestamps to dates and back — live clock, auto-detect s/ms
How to Use the Epoch Converter
- Use Epoch → Date to convert a Unix timestamp to a human-readable date.
- Use Date → Epoch to enter day, month, year, hour, minute, second and get the epoch instantly.
- Auto-detects seconds vs. milliseconds.
The live clock at the top shows the current epoch in real time.
What is Epoch & Unix Timestamp Conversion?
The Epoch Converter translates Unix timestamps (the number of seconds or milliseconds elapsed since January 1, 1970 00:00:00 UTC) into human-readable calendar dates and times, and vice versa. It displays local time, UTC, ISO 8601 formatting, RFC 2822, and relative time representations for backend developers and database administrators.
Common Uses
- Debugging authentication token expiration timestamps (`exp`, `iat` in JWTs)
- Translating database integer timestamps in MySQL, PostgreSQL, or MongoDB
- Analyzing server access log timestamps during incident response
- Converting scheduled job execution times between timezones and epoch seconds
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Year 2038 Problem (Y2038)?
On January 19, 2038, standard 32-bit signed integers will overflow because they cannot represent values greater than 2,147,483,647 seconds. Modern 64-bit systems resolve this, extending timestamp capability for hundreds of billions of years.
How can I tell if a timestamp is in seconds or milliseconds?
A 10-digit timestamp (e.g. `1716982400`) represents seconds. A 13-digit timestamp (e.g. `1716982400000`) represents milliseconds, standard in JavaScript `Date.now()`.
Does Unix time account for leap seconds?
Unix time assumes every day has exactly 86,400 seconds. When a leap second occurs, standard NTP servers repeat or smear the second so the timestamp scale remains strictly linear.
Notes from this implementation
Same instant, different name
“Epoch” in everyday developer speech means the Unix epoch. This script converts that number to a calendar date and back. It is a separate file from the Unix timestamp page, so a fix in one does not silently fix the other. Use this page when you are starting from a date you can read and you want the integer, or the reverse.
Leap seconds are not represented in Unix time. A conversion that is off by one second around a leap second is the platform, not a rounding error you should “correct” by adding one. Dates before 1970 are negative timestamps. If a form rejects a minus sign, the date did not fail to exist; the form did.