Convert Unix epoch timestamps to readable dates and back. Supports seconds and milliseconds. Live current timestamp clock updates in real time.
A Unix timestamp (also called epoch time) is the number of seconds elapsed since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC — the Unix Epoch. It is the universal standard for representing moments in time in computer systems, databases, APIs, and log files because it is timezone-independent, sortable, and compact.
Most Unix timestamps are in seconds (10 digits). JavaScript's Date.now() returns milliseconds (13 digits). The tool auto-detects the unit based on value magnitude.
32-bit signed integers overflow at timestamp 2147483647 — January 19, 2038. Modern systems use 64-bit integers which safely represent dates billions of years into the future.
ISO 8601 is the international standard for date/time strings: 2025-07-20T14:30:00Z. The trailing "Z" denotes UTC. Always prefer ISO 8601 over locale-specific formats in APIs.
Storing dates as Unix timestamps rather than formatted strings avoids timezone confusion and simplifies sorting, range queries, and date arithmetic in SQL and NoSQL databases.