A Unix timestamp (also called epoch time) is the number of seconds elapsed since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC. It is used universally in software systems to represent points in time in a timezone-independent format.
What is a Unix timestamp? ▾
A Unix timestamp is the number of seconds since January 1, 1970 00:00:00 UTC (the Unix epoch). It's the standard way computers store and share dates and times.
What's the difference between seconds and milliseconds? ▾
Standard Unix timestamps use seconds. JavaScript and many modern APIs use milliseconds (multiply seconds by 1000). The live display shows both.
What is the Year 2038 problem? ▾
32-bit systems can only store Unix timestamps up to January 19, 2038. Modern systems use 64-bit timestamps, which won't overflow for billions of years.