Unix Timestamp Blog
Detailed guides on Unix timestamps, epoch time, timezone handling, JavaScript Date, database storage choices, and the production bugs caused by time conversions.
Latest articles
Practical articles on Unix timestamps, timezone handling in JavaScript, database storage strategies, and the timestamp bugs that quietly break production systems.
What Is UTC Time? Meaning, Offsets, and Conversions Explained
UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) is the world's primary time standard and the zero-offset reference for every time zone. This guide explains what UTC means, whether it counts as a time zone, how to read 24-hour UTC, and how to convert UTC to EST, CST, MST, PST, and your own local time.
Unix Time to Date: Convert Unix Timestamp to Human-Readable Time
A practical guide for converting Unix time to date formats: UTC, local timezone, ISO 8601, database datetime, and human-readable output. Covers Unix timestamp to date, Linux time to date, and common seconds-vs-milliseconds mistakes.
Epoch Timestamp Explained: Unix Time, POSIX Time, and Seconds Since 1970
An epoch timestamp is a compact way to represent a moment as elapsed time since a fixed starting point. This guide explains Unix time, POSIX timestamps, the Unix epoch date, and why seconds since 1970 UTC became the default in software.
Epoch Converter Guide: Convert Epoch Time, Unix Time, and Timestamps
A focused guide to using an epoch converter correctly: convert epoch to date, date to epoch, Unix time to human time, and milliseconds to date, with UTC and local timezone output and no mixed units.
Date to Epoch: Convert Time to Unix Timestamp or Epoch Time
Learn how to convert a human date and time to epoch time, Unix timestamp seconds, Unix timestamp milliseconds, or ISO output. Covers timezone selection, UTC conversion, API payloads, and common mistakes.
Epoch Milliseconds to Date: Convert 13-Digit Timestamps and Long Values
A guide to converting epoch milliseconds to readable dates. Covers 13-digit timestamps, JavaScript Date, Java long values, milliseconds vs seconds, and why the wrong unit produces 1970 or far-future dates.
Current Unix Timestamp: Epoch Clock, UTC Time, and Live Unix Time
The current Unix timestamp is the number of seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC right now. Learn how an epoch clock works, why UTC is the reference, and how to get the current timestamp in common languages.
Start of 2026 Unix Timestamp: 1767225600 Explained
The Unix timestamp 1767225600 represents 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC, the start of 2026 in UTC. This guide shows the conversion, timezone implications, milliseconds form, and how to interpret 1764581115 seconds since epoch.
JavaScript Date.now(): Getting and Converting Unix Timestamps
A focused guide to JavaScript Date.now(): get the current Unix timestamp, convert seconds vs milliseconds, turn timestamps into Date objects, format with Intl, and avoid the common parsing traps.
Milliseconds vs Seconds: The Unit Confusion That Breaks Every App
The single most common timestamp bug is passing milliseconds where seconds are expected, or vice versa. Learn the 10-digit vs 13-digit rule, language defaults, database implications, and safe conversion patterns.
Storing Timestamps in Databases: DATETIME vs INT vs BIGINT
Choosing the wrong column type for timestamps leads to timezone drift, the Year 2038 overflow, broken range queries, and confusing API output. Compare native datetime types, BIGINT epoch values, and strings in MySQL and PostgreSQL.
Timezone-Correct Date Formatting in JavaScript Without Libraries
JavaScript's built-in Intl.DateTimeFormat handles IANA timezone formatting without moment.js or date-fns. Learn explicit timeZone options, DST-safe display, formatToParts, wall-clock conversion limits, and when Temporal or a timezone library is still useful.
7 Unix Timestamp Bugs Every Developer Has Shipped
These are the timestamp mistakes that cause production incidents: silent unit mismatches, timezone assumptions, the forgotten ×1000, string storage, ambiguous parsing, and DST boundary errors. Each bug includes the symptom, the root cause, and a practical fix.
Epoch Time Explained: What Is Unix Timestamp Zero?
Unix timestamp 0 is January 1, 1970 at 00:00:00 UTC. Learn why that date became the Unix epoch, what negative timestamps represent, how epoch seconds/milliseconds/microseconds differ, and what limits apply to modern systems.