Date to Unix Timestamp Converter

What is a Unix timestamp?

A Unix timestamp (also called epoch time, POSIX time, or Unix time) is the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970 at 00:00:00 UTC, not counting leap seconds. It's a universal, timezone-independent way to represent a specific moment in time, which is why it's used everywhere in computing.

You'll find Unix timestamps in API responses, database columns, log files, JWT iat and exp fields, and system configuration files. This tool converts a human-readable date and time into the exact Unix timestamp your system needs — in both seconds and milliseconds.

Because timestamps are just numbers, they're perfect for storage and comparison. But for humans, they're useless until you convert them. That's exactly what this converter does — and it works both ways.

How to convert a date to a Unix timestamp

1. Pick your date: Use the date picker to select any date — past, present, or future.
2. Set the time: Enter the time in 24-hour format (e.g. 14:30 for 2:30 PM).
3. Choose your timezone: Select the IANA timezone that your date and time refer to. Daylight saving time is applied automatically for the specific date you choose.
4. Click Convert: The Unix timestamp appears immediately in both seconds and milliseconds, along with 10+ other output formats you can copy with a single click.
5. Copy what you need: Click any format card to copy the value to your clipboard.

Want to go the other way? Click the swap button to switch to timestamp-to-date mode, enter a Unix timestamp, and get the human-readable date in any timezone.

Why use this date to timestamp converter?

Why IANA timezones matter for date-to-timestamp conversion

Most broken date converters have the same root cause: someone stored a fixed number of hours. "New York is 5 hours behind UTC" is true for part of the year — but false for the rest, because New York observes daylight saving time. During those weeks, any converter using a fixed offset is confidently wrong.

This tool solves that problem by naming the place instead of the difference. Timezones have canonical IANA names like America/New_York or Asia/Tokyo, and those names carry all the rules with them — including historical changes, current offsets, and future DST transitions. When you pick a date that falls during DST, the converter applies the correct offset for that specific date.

If you're building your own time-related features, the practical takeaway is: never store or calculate offsets yourself. Let the browser compute the moment for a named zone. This is built into every modern browser, it's free, and it's the single decision that separates a converter that works from one that will embarrass you in March.

Who uses a date to Unix timestamp converter?

Developers and DevOps engineers

• Generate Unix timestamps for API payloads, database inserts, and JWT tokens
• Set exp and iat claims with precise expiration times
• Create test fixtures with known timestamps for reproducible tests
• Calculate cron job schedules and audit log timestamps

Data analysts and scientists

• Convert dates to epoch for time-series analysis and model training
• Normalize timestamps across different data sources into a common format
• Prepare data for tools that expect Unix timestamps as input

Students and researchers

• Convert historical dates to epoch for computational analysis
• Practice with real-world time data for programming assignments
• Understand how timestamps work across different timezones

Anyone working with APIs or webhooks

• Generate timestamps for scheduled tasks and reminders
• Set expiration times for links, tokens, and sessions
• Verify webhook delivery timestamps and event ordering

Common date to timestamp conversions

Here's a quick reference for some frequently needed conversions. Note that the exact timestamp depends on the timezone — these are for UTC.

For the most reliable results, always use the IANA timezone name rather than the abbreviation. This tool uses IANA names internally, which is why it handles DST correctly and never confuses "CST" in Chicago with "CST" in Shanghai.

Frequently asked questions