Epoch to Date Converter
Epoch time is another name for Unix time — the number of seconds elapsed since January 1, 1970 00:00:00 UTC. Despite its slightly archaic name, epoch time is everywhere in modern software. REST API responses commonly include epoch timestamps in fields like created_at, updated_at, expires_at, or issued_at. Database records often store epoch values in INTEGER columns for performance. JWT tokens store iat (issued at) and exp (expiry) as epoch seconds.
When you encounter an epoch value in a log, a database query result, or an API response, this tool gives you the human-readable date in milliseconds. No mental arithmetic required.
Epoch to date: understanding the conversion
The math is straightforward: take the epoch value in seconds, multiply by 1000 to get milliseconds, then create a Date object (in JavaScript) or use a datetime library (in Python, PHP, etc.) to format it as a human-readable string. The complexity lies in timezone handling — the raw epoch value is always UTC, but displaying it in a local timezone requires knowing the offset and accounting for daylight saving time rules.
Common epoch values to know
One day = 86400 seconds. One week = 604800 seconds. One hour = 3600 seconds. If you need to calculate "what was the epoch time 30 days ago," subtract 2592000 from the current epoch. The seconds-to-duration converter further down this page can help with these calculations.