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TinyTools

Timestamp Converter

Epoch seconds to a date you can read, and the other way round.

UTC is what servers and logs use. Local shows the same instant in your own timezone.

Everything is processed on your device. Nothing you upload or type is sent to a server, and nothing is stored.

Timestamp Converter online

Logs, APIs and databases mostly store time as a single number: the seconds since the first moment of 1970, UTC. It is unambiguous, it sorts correctly and it survives every timezone — and it is completely unreadable. Paste one in to see what it means, or paste a date to get the number back. Seconds and milliseconds are told apart automatically, which is the mistake that usually sends a date to 1970 or to the year 55000.

How to use timestamp converter

  1. Pick a direction

    Timestamp to date, or date to timestamp.

  2. Paste the value

    A number in seconds or milliseconds, or a date like 2026-09-11 14:30 or an ISO 8601 string.

  3. Choose the timezone

    UTC, which is what servers use, or your own local time.

  4. Copy the result

    It converts as you type. Copy it or download it.

Frequently asked questions

What is a Unix timestamp?

The number of seconds that have passed since 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970, a moment called the Unix epoch. Because it is a plain count in a fixed timezone, it is the same number everywhere on earth — which is exactly why software stores it that way.

Is my timestamp in seconds or milliseconds?

Count the digits. Ten digits is seconds, thirteen is milliseconds — JavaScript's Date.now() gives milliseconds and most other languages give seconds, which is where the confusion starts. This tool detects which you pasted, and shows you which it used.

Why did my date come out as 1970?

A millisecond value was read as seconds, so it landed a fraction of a day after the epoch. The reverse mistake — seconds read as milliseconds — lands somewhere around the year 55000. Both are one factor of a thousand away from correct.

Should I use UTC or local time?

UTC for anything stored, logged or sent between systems: it has no daylight saving and no ambiguity. Local time only for display, right at the point a person reads it. Storing local times is the root of a whole genre of bugs that surface twice a year.

What is the 2038 problem?

Systems that store the timestamp in a signed 32-bit integer run out of room on 19 January 2038, and the counter wraps to 1901. Anything modern uses 64 bits and is fine for the next 292 billion years, but old embedded software and legacy database columns still hit it.