ConvertersLesson 37Free preview

Unix Timestamp

This lesson is part of Web Developer Tools · All levels

Summary

The Unix timestamp is the number of seconds that have passed since January 1, 1970 at 00:00:00 UTC. This value is often used because it is concise and does not depend on time zones, so it is easy to store and compare. JavaScript and some languages use the milliseconds, which is a thousand times greater. The converter helps translate timestamps into human-readable dates and vice versa.

Key points

Unix timestamp counting seconds since 1 January 1970 UTC
Timestamps are always based on UTC, not local time zones.
The unit of a millisecond is equal to the timestamp of a second times 1000.
JavaScript returns the milliseconds
The 32-bit signed system has a time limit known as the 2038 problem

Full lesson

Code examples and quizzes

Full lessons, code examples, and quizzes are available to subscribers. 5 questions.