Understanding Unix Epoch Timestamps: A Developer Guide
What is Epoch time and why is it used? Learn how databases store dates as integers, and how to convert them back to human calendar dates.
What is Unix Epoch Time?
Unix Epoch time (or POSIX time) is the number of seconds that have elapsed since midnight on January 1, 1970, UTC. Databases and servers store date-times as integers because they take up less memory, are faster to compare, and are time-zone independent.
Convert timestamps instantly: [Unix Epoch Converter](/tools/epoch-converter).
Seconds vs. Milliseconds
* 10-Digit Timestamps: Represent seconds (e.g. 1700000000). Used by Unix systems and databases like MySQL.
* 13-Digit Timestamps: Represent milliseconds (e.g. 1700000000000). Standard in JavaScript (Date.now()) and Java.
Make sure to verify if your logs are outputting in seconds or milliseconds, otherwise your date conversions will be years off.
Convert and troubleshoot your date logs: [Unix Epoch Converter](/tools/epoch-converter).
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