Unix Timestamp and Epoch Time Converter
Convert Unix timestamps in seconds or milliseconds to readable date and time values, or turn a selected date into epoch time. This is useful for API debugging, database records, application logs and scheduled events.
Unix time represents elapsed time from 1 January 1970 UTC. A displayed local date can vary by time zone even when the underlying timestamp is identical.
Instructions
Convert
To convert a date and time, change any field and click somewhere on the page so the field loses focus. This triggers the corresponding conversion function.
What is Unix Timestamp
Unix Timestamp is a numeric representation of time, usually expressed in seconds since midnight (00:00:00) on January 1, 1970, in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time).
Its origin dates back to the development of the Unix operating system in the 1970s. At that time, programmers needed a standard way to represent dates and times that was independent of time zones and easy to manipulate computationally.
The creators of Unix, mainly Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie, adopted a time system based on the number of seconds elapsed since a fixed reference date. This choice provided simplicity and consistency when handling dates and times, regardless of the computer or user's geographic location.
Unix Timestamp is therefore a universal and consistent way to represent time, widely used in computer systems to record and manipulate dates and times accurately and efficiently.