How to Read and Convert Unix Timestamps

What is a Unix Timestamp?

A Unix timestamp is the number of seconds elapsed since January 1, 1970 at 00:00:00 UTC (the "Unix Epoch"). It's the universal standard for representing moments in time in computing.

Current timestamp: approximately 1,700,000,000 (as of late 2023)

Converting in Different Languages

JavaScript

// Current timestamp
const now = Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000)

// Timestamp to Date
const date = new Date(1700000000 * 1000)
console.log(date.toISOString()) // "2023-11-14T22:13:20.000Z"

// Date to timestamp
const ts = Math.floor(new Date('2024-01-01').getTime() / 1000)

Python

import datetime, time

# Current timestamp
now = int(time.time())

# Timestamp to datetime
dt = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(1700000000)

# Datetime to timestamp
ts = int(datetime.datetime(2024, 1, 1).timestamp())

SQL

-- MySQL: timestamp to datetime
SELECT FROM_UNIXTIME(1700000000);

-- PostgreSQL
SELECT to_timestamp(1700000000);

Common Gotchas

• Milliseconds vs seconds: JavaScript's Date.now() returns milliseconds; divide by 1000 for Unix timestamp
• Timezone: Unix timestamps are always UTC; conversion to local time is done at display time
• Year 2038 problem: 32-bit signed integers overflow on Jan 19, 2038. Use 64-bit integers.

Convert timestamps instantly with our Unix Timestamp Converter.