# Unix Timestamp Converter - Free, Local Page: https://hirantha.me/tools/timestamp-converter Part of: Hirantha Sandaruwan Lakshan free tools (https://hirantha.me/tools) Updated: 2026-07-31 Convert between Unix epoch time and human-readable dates. This is a free tool that runs in the browser: open the page to use it. File tools process files on the visitor's own device; files are never uploaded or stored. No account, sign-up, payment or watermark. Convert a Unix epoch timestamp to a human-readable date, or the other way around, in both your local time zone and UTC. Unix time counts seconds (or milliseconds, depending on the system) elapsed since 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970, the epoch - a compact, time-zone-independent way to store a moment in time. The tool auto-detects whether a pasted number is in seconds or milliseconds based on its magnitude, since both are common depending on the system that produced it. Converting a date to a timestamp interprets the date and time you enter in your browser's local time zone, then shows the resulting epoch value alongside the equivalent UTC time for comparison. Q: Is my input sent anywhere? A: No, all conversion happens locally in your browser tab. Q: How does it know if my number is seconds or milliseconds? A: By magnitude - a value around 10 digits is almost certainly seconds, while a 13-digit value is almost certainly milliseconds. Both current-era values are unambiguous by length. Q: What time zone are dates shown in? A: Both your browser's local time zone and UTC are shown side by side, since which one you need depends on the context. Q: Can this handle dates before 1970? A: Yes, Unix time can be negative for dates before the epoch, and this tool handles that correctly. Q: What is a Unix timestamp? A: The number of seconds elapsed since 1 January 1970 UTC. It's a single number with no time zone attached, which is why it's the usual way to store a moment in time. Q: Why is the epoch 1 January 1970? A: It was an arbitrary but convenient starting point chosen for early Unix systems, and it stuck. There's no deeper significance to the date. Q: What is the year 2038 problem? A: Systems that store timestamps in a signed 32-bit integer run out of room in January 2038 and wrap around to a negative number. Modern systems use 64-bit values and aren't affected. Q: Can I convert a date back into a timestamp? A: Yes, conversion works in both directions - enter a date and get the epoch value, or enter the number and get the date. Sources: Unix time - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_time); Date - MDN (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Date) Related tools: - [JWT decoder](https://hirantha.me/tools/jwt-decoder.md): Decode a JSON Web Token's header and payload without verifying it. - [UUID generator](https://hirantha.me/tools/uuid-generator.md): Generate random version 4 UUIDs, one at a time or in bulk. - [Time zone converter for up to 6 cities](https://hirantha.me/tools/time-zone-converter.md): Compare the time in up to six cities or any IANA time zone side by side, with UTC offsets, daylight saving, day changes, shared working hours and a share link. - [Cron expression explainer](https://hirantha.me/tools/cron-expression-explainer.md): Paste a five-field cron expression to read it in plain English, see a field-by-field breakdown and list the next 10 run times in any time zone. - [Date calculator (add or subtract days, months, years)](https://hirantha.me/tools/date-calculator.md): Add or subtract years, months, weeks and days from any date, or count working days, and see the weekday of the result. - [Countdown to a date (days until an event)](https://hirantha.me/tools/countdown-to-date.md): See the days, hours, minutes and seconds until any date or event, count weekdays only, and share it with a link that stores only the name and the date.