What is a Timestamp?
A timestamp is a sequence of characters or encoded information that represents a specific date and time. Timestamps are used in computing, databases, and programming to record the exact moment an event occurred, often down to the second or even millisecond.
How Do Timestamps Work?
Most timestamps are based on the number of seconds that have passed since a specific starting point in time, known as the Unix epoch – January 1, 1970, at 00:00:00 UTC. This is commonly referred to as a Unix timestamp or Epoch time.
For example:
1712832000represents a specific date and time in UTC2025-04-11T00:00:00Zis an ISO 8601 formatted timestamp
Why Are Timestamps Important?
Timestamps play a crucial role in many systems, including:
- Logging and auditing events
- Database record tracking
- File creation and modification dates
- Time-based authentication and encryption
- Scheduling and time zone conversions
Convert Timestamps Online
Use our free timestamp converter tool to easily convert between human-readable dates and Unix timestamps. Whether you're debugging software, working with APIs, or just curious, our tool makes it quick and easy to generate or decode timestamps in multiple formats.
Common Timestamp Formats
- Unix timestamp: Number of seconds since January 1, 1970 (e.g.,
1712832000) - ISO 8601: International date/time standard (e.g.,
2025-04-11T00:00:00Z) - RFC 2822: Format used in emails (e.g.,
Fri, 11 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000)
Working with Timestamps in Programming
Most programming languages have built-in functions to generate and manipulate timestamps. For example:
- PHP:
time(),strtotime() - JavaScript:
Date.now(),new Date() - Python:
time.time(),datetime.now()