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2 min readBy Usman Farooqi
How to Convert a Unix Timestamp to a Date (and Back)
What a Unix timestamp is, how to tell seconds from milliseconds, and how to convert it to a readable date in UTC and your time zone, or a date back to a number.
Quick answer: open the Unix Timestamp Converter, paste the number and you get the date in UTC and in your own time zone. To go the other way, pick a date and time and copy the timestamp.
What is a Unix timestamp?
It is the number of seconds that have passed since 1 January 1970, 00:00 UTC. Programs store time this way because a single number is easy to compare and sort. For example, 1767225600 is 1 January 2026, 00:00 UTC.
Seconds or milliseconds?
| Digits | Unit | Example |
|---|---|---|
| About 10 | Seconds | 1767225600 |
| About 13 | Milliseconds | 1767225600000 |
JavaScript Date.now() returns milliseconds. Many APIs and databases use seconds. The tool detects which one you pasted.
Step by step
- Open the converter.
- Paste the timestamp. The UTC date and your local time appear.
- To convert a date, use the second box, pick the date and time and copy the seconds or milliseconds value.
- Tap Use the current time to get "now".
Common problems
- The date is in 1970: you probably pasted seconds where milliseconds were expected, or the value is
0. - The date is thousands of years away: you pasted milliseconds into a seconds field.
- The time is a few hours off: UTC and your local time zone differ. Pakistan is UTC+5.