How to Convert Epoch Time: Complete Guide to Unix Time Conversion

Converting epoch time (Unix timestamps) is one of the most common tasks in programming. Whether you're working with APIs, databases, or log files, understanding how to convert between Unix timestamps and human-readable dates is essential.

What is Epoch Time?

Epoch time, also known as Unix time or POSIX time, represents the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC. This standardized format makes it easy to store and compare dates across different systems and time zones.

Converting Epoch Time to Date

JavaScript

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// Convert Unix timestamp to date
const timestamp = 1727280000;
const date = new Date(timestamp * 1000); // Multiply by 1000 for milliseconds

// Format the date
console.log(date.toLocaleString()); // "9/25/2024, 12:00:00 PM"
console.log(date.toISOString()); // "2024-09-25T12:00:00.000Z"

// Custom formatting
const options = {
  year: 'numeric',
  month: 'long',
  day: 'numeric',
  hour: '2-digit',
  minute: '2-digit',
  second: '2-digit',
  timeZoneName: 'short'
};
console.log(date.toLocaleString('en-US', options));
// "September 25, 2024 at 12:00:00 PM UTC"

Python

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import datetime

# Convert Unix timestamp to date
timestamp = 1727280000
date = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(timestamp)

# Format the date
print(date.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'))  # "2024-09-25 12:00:00"
print(date.strftime('%B %d, %Y at %I:%M %p'))  # "September 25, 2024 at 12:00 PM"

# UTC conversion
utc_date = datetime.datetime.utcfromtimestamp(timestamp)
print(utc_date.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S UTC'))  # "2024-09-25 12:00:00 UTC"

Need a quick conversion? Try our Unix timestamp converter for instant results, or use our batch converter to convert multiple timestamps at once!