Timestamp to Date Converter

Unix timestamps are the heartbeat of modern computing, but they are impossible for humans to read. This tool bridges the gap, instantly accurately converting between Epoch time and human-readable dates in your local timezone and UTC.

What is a Unix Timestamp?

A Unix timestamp (also known as Epoch time or POSIX time) is a system for tracking time as a running total of seconds. It counts the number of seconds that have elapsed since the Unix Epoch: 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970.

Real-World Use Cases

• Debugging Server Logs: Server logs (like Nginx or Apache) often record events in Epoch time. When a server crashes at 1703059200, you need to know exactly when that was in your local time to correlate it with other events.
• Database Management: Databases store timestamps as integers for efficiency. When querying raw data, you might see a "created_at" column full of numbers like 1672531200.
• API Development: Many APIs (like Stripe or Slack) use Unix timestamps for fields like expires_at or event_time.

Technical Deep Dive: How It Works

Under the hood, this conversion relies on the fundamental way computers handle time. When you provide a timestamp:

1. Detection: The tool automatically detects if you've pasted Seconds (10 digits) or Milliseconds (13 digits).
2. Normalization: It converts everything to milliseconds, which is the internal requirement for the JavaScript Date object.
3. Formatting: It uses the browser's 5Intl.DateTimeFormat API to output the date string in your specific local timezone.

Common Mistakes Developers Make

Confusing Seconds and Milliseconds: This is the #1 error. Python's time.time() returns seconds (float), while JavaScript's Date.now() returns milliseconds (integer).

Ignoring Timezones: A timestamp is absolute (UTC), but "Midnight" is relative. Always remember that 1700000000 happened at the same moment everywhere, but the clock time differed by location.