Unix Timestamp Converter
Convert Unix timestamps to human-readable dates and vice versa. Supports seconds and milliseconds.
- Paste a Unix timestamp (seconds or milliseconds) to convert it to a human-readable date.
- Or pick a date and time to get its equivalent Unix timestamp.
- Toggle between UTC and your local timezone.
- Useful for debugging logs, APIs, and database records that store epoch time.
All processing happens entirely in your browser. Your data never leaves your device.
Key Features
- Convert Unix timestamps to human-readable dates
- Convert dates to Unix timestamps
- Support for both seconds and milliseconds precision
- Display in UTC and local timezone simultaneously
- Current timestamp display that updates in real time
- Handles dates from 1970 to 2099 and beyond
About Unix Timestamp Converter
A Unix timestamp (also called epoch time or POSIX time) is the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC — a moment known as the Unix epoch. This simple, timezone-independent number is the most common way to represent time in software systems, APIs, databases, and log files.
Timestamps are used because they are compact, unambiguous, and easy to compare and sort. However, they are not human-readable — the timestamp 1700000000 means November 14, 2023, 10:13:20 AM UTC, which is not obvious without a converter.
ForgeKit's Unix Timestamp Converter handles both directions: paste a timestamp to see the human-readable date, or pick a date to get its timestamp. It supports both second-precision and millisecond-precision timestamps and displays results in both UTC and your local timezone.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Unix epoch is January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC. Unix timestamps count the number of seconds elapsed since this moment.
A seconds timestamp like 1700000000 is 10 digits. A milliseconds timestamp like 1700000000000 is 13 digits. JavaScript's Date.now() returns milliseconds, while most Unix tools use seconds.
The Year 2038 problem affects 32-bit systems that store timestamps as signed 32-bit integers (max value ~2.1 billion, reached in January 2038). This tool uses JavaScript's 64-bit numbers, which handle dates far beyond 2038.
Negative timestamps represent dates before the Unix epoch (January 1, 1970). For example, -86400 represents December 31, 1969.