Unix Timestamps Explained: Seconds, Milliseconds, and Dates

A Unix timestamp counts seconds or milliseconds since 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z. This guide shows which unit you have and how YallaSolve converts seconds to ISO 8601 UTC.

Last updated: October 4, 2026

Quick answer

A Unix timestamp is the number of seconds, or sometimes milliseconds, since 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z. That origin is the Unix epoch. The integer is UTC, not a local wall clock. If the number has about 10 digits, it is usually seconds. If it has about 13 digits, it is usually milliseconds. Mixing those units by a factor of 1000 is how a date lands in 1970 or in the year 50,000.

The Timestamp Generator snapshots the current instant as seconds, milliseconds, and ISO 8601 UTC. From Unix seconds accepts a whole number of seconds and writes the UTC ISO form. It does not accept milliseconds in that field. This guide is unix timestamps explained so you pick the unit before you paste.

What the Unix epoch is

The epoch is midnight UTC on 1 January 1970. Unix seconds 0 is 1970-01-01T00:00:00.000Z. Negative whole seconds name instants before 1970. Some databases reject those. The YallaSolve page will still show the ISO form when the integer is in range. Whether you should store a negative value is a schema question, not a generator question.

Unix time ignores leap seconds as civil clocks treat them. The page does not apply a leap-second table. For ordinary application timestamps that is the usual POSIX count. If you needed a time scale that includes leap seconds, this guide is the wrong document.

Seconds versus milliseconds

  1. Count the digits of the integer you were given, ignoring a leading minus.
  2. About 10 digits near 1.7 billion is seconds for dates in the 2020s. Unix seconds 1700000000 is 2023-11-14T22:13:20.000Z.
  3. About 13 digits near 1.7 trillion is milliseconds. The same instant as milliseconds is 1700000000000.
  4. If you are unsure, convert the value as seconds first. If the ISO date is in 1970 and you expected last week, you probably had milliseconds and need to divide by 1000 before using From Unix seconds.

JavaScript’s Date.now() returns milliseconds. Many databases and APIs store seconds. Write the unit next to the number. “1700000000 seconds” and “1700000000000 milliseconds” are the same instant. “1700000000 milliseconds” is 20 January 1970.

Convert a Unix value on YallaSolve

  1. Open the Timestamp Generator.
  2. Enter a whole number of seconds in Unix seconds. Empty input and decimals are errors.
  3. Choose From Unix seconds.
  4. Read seconds, milliseconds, and ISO 8601 UTC. Copy seconds writes the seconds row.

Extremely large integers whose absolute value is above 1×1011 are refused so the Date object stays usable. That bound is documented on the tool. The ISO row always includes milliseconds and a Z. Some APIs want seconds only as an integer; use Copy seconds. Some APIs want milliseconds; read the milliseconds row instead of multiplying in your head and dropping a zero.

Convert a local clock the other way

  1. Use Now when you need the current instant from this computer’s clock. Two clicks a second apart differ by about one second. If the clock is wrong, Now is wrong. The page does not reach a network time service.
  2. Or enter a local date and time in the local field. That field uses this browser’s zone. It is not an IANA picker.
  3. Choose From local time. The ISO row is still UTC.

A local time of 2024-01-15 12:00 in a UTC+4 browser is 2024-01-15T08:00:00.000Z. The same civil clock in another zone is a different instant. The page will not apply “America/New_York” or any other zone name you type. There is no zone list on purpose. Time-zone conversion is a different product.

What this page will not do

This is not a duration calculator and not an age calculator. Those pages count spans. This page names an instant. If the job was “how many nights between two dates,” use the Date Difference Calculator. If the job was “22:15 to 06:45,” use the Time Duration Calculator. Do not glue those jobs onto a Unix integer and call it a timestamp.

Write a labeled sentence: “1700000000 Unix seconds,” “1700000000000 milliseconds,” or “2023-11-14T22:13:20.000Z.” Unix timestamps explained is finished when the unit and the calendar date can be checked against each other. A bare 13-digit integer in a ticket is not finished. If a teammate later multiplies seconds by 1000 and stores that as seconds, the next reader will land in the wrong century. Keep the unit in the column name or the comment, not only in the integer.

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