Unix time is how computers count moments: a single number of seconds since 1970. This converter translates between that number and human-readable dates in both directions.
Why epoch time is everywhere
A timestamp is just an integer, so it's easy to store, compare and do arithmetic on, and it carries no timezone ambiguity. That's why databases, APIs and logs overwhelmingly use it under the hood, converting to readable dates only for display.
Seconds, milliseconds and beyond
The classic Unix timestamp is in seconds, but JavaScript's Date works in milliseconds and some systems use microseconds. Mixing them up is a common bug — this converter auto-detects the scale to keep results sane.
Frequently asked questions
It's the number of seconds that have elapsed since 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970 (the 'epoch'). It's a compact, timezone-independent way to represent a moment in time.
Unix timestamps are traditionally in seconds, but JavaScript and many systems use milliseconds. This tool auto-detects: very large values are treated as milliseconds.
Local time is shown in your device's timezone, while UTC is the global reference. The underlying instant is identical — only the display offset differs.